Cherub: Team Delta
by RockRoy
Summary: Having lost his parents and roaming the streets of London, Paul Trant is recruited into CHERUB. But what exactly does it mean to be a member of the infamous Delta Team? Read and find out. Reviews are much appriciated
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

People quickly moved aside while Paul shouted at them to move their arses. Swinging his bag around to make people move, Paul looked behind him and saw the three police officers closing in on him. He cursed.  
'Move!' Paul shouted at a old lady, before slipping past her.  
She looked at him while she grasped her chest and fell down. One of the coppers stayed behind while the other two chased him through the London Underground.  
Paul sprinted towards the tracks. He just arrived in time to jump aboard a metro. With a smile he looked at the cops who were locked out by the doors. The oldest one was shouting at him, but Paul didn't hear a thing and cupped his hand around his ear and smiled victoriously. A fist smacked the glass. Paul laughed out loud and took a seat.  
'Bloody hell, I really need to get a break from this shit,' he said to himself and an empty cart. He tried to relax while the adrenaline rushed through his veins. He opened his military-style bag and took out his semi-dead Ipod with his headphones. Paul played some metal songs. He looked at his faint reflection in the dirty window and smiled.  
The gray eyes stared at the fourteen year old kid with the white T-shirt and red shirt on top. Paul Trant was wearing a ripped up pair of jeans and his favorite sneakers to finish everything up.  
He closed his eyes and thought about his sleeping spot for the night and how much money he had left. He decided to go crash at his usual spot in Hyde Park and wanted to buy a meal at McDonalds, but realised that he hadn't enough money. He cursed in his thoughts while the metro stopped at the next stop.  
The doors opened and Paul heard someone step on, but didn't bother to open his eyes. After he heard some steps from someone who was wearing heels, Paul opened his eyes and looked at the lady that sat next to him. His eyes grew big.  
'You seem surprised to see me Paul,' said the lady.  
Paul took in her image. She was wearing a red cape with a hood and black pants with matching boots. Around her neck Paul saw a dragon shaped pendant. She had black hair and green eyes that pierced through his soul. Paul didn't say anything and just pulled off his headphones.  
'Cat finally got that foul tongue of yours?' she asked smiling viciously. Ming Lee was not the girl to mess with. There was a reason she was called the Steelthorned Rose.  
'Not, really, I just find it awkward that the leader of the Black Dragons is sitting right across the aisle.'  
The Black Dragons was the notorious gang that fought against Flamesword for the control of the London underworld. While Flamesword was known for their radical religious members and founders who were fighting against the unfaithful, the Black Dragons were a bunch of psychotic gangbangers, all under the leadership of Ming and the Butcher. The war had had serious impact on the nightlife in London, it was never safe.  
'I've heard some things about you Paul Trant. but before i go deeper into that I want to know something.'  
'What?' Paul asked cautiously.  
'How can it be that a little I-ran-from-foster-care like you can walk into gangturf without a scratch? And then I'm talking about both sides. Steel nerves, a deathwish? Please do tell me Grizzly.'  
'I'll talk if you can answer my question.' he said while leaning over to her.  
'Shoot.'  
'How the hell do you know this?' he growled while looking at her.  
'Forget about those nerves or deathwish, you're just plain dangerous. Grizzly,' she said chuckling  
Paul jumped to his feet and stared at the smiling Ming.  
'One more time : How do you know that stuff about me?' he shouted.  
Now it was Ming's turn to leap up. Her smile had melted away. Paul backed up and stared at her while resisting the urge to punch her. Before he could do anything, Ming moved and Paul felt a quick but sharp sting in his neck. His legs started to wobble and he fell down.  
Ming catched him and gently laid him on the floor.  
'I don't know why someone would want you to join CHERUB, but please do relax and try to get some sleep,' she said before Paul closed his eyes and dozed off.  
Ming took out her phone and dialed a number. 'It's done, he will be arriving T minus three hours.' She ended the phone call and stared intensely at the kid who was lying at her feet. Ming only knew the basic intel that was given to her by John Jones. She knew he had some skills but she just couldn't figure out why Zara wanted this one at Cherub as soon as possible.

Zara stood in her office and watched out the window when her phone rang. She saw that it was Ming. Zara answered.  
'It's done, he will be arriving T minus three hours.'  
'Good work Ming. I'll get everything in order over here. The pick-up team is on its way.'  
Zara closed her mobile and walked over to her computer and sat down behind it. She looked at the screen and smiled while typing something.

*** Classified ***

**Project Delta**

**Recent updates:**

**Final member found in London Underground: Paul Trant. Testing begins tomorrow.**

Zara sealed the document with her password and closed it. After a second or two she opened Paul Trants file. They had a file on him since the day he was born. The usual protocol for the kids and families of ex-CHERUB agents, the only difference with Paul that he was the son of two CHERUB agents. Zara clicked open the photo gallery and looked at the first picture that was in it. It showed Paul as a month old baby, in the arms of his dad, while his mother smiled. In the background Zara could easily spot the main building and fountain of the CHERUB-campus. She smiled at the picture of the family and closed down the computer.


	2. Testing

**Disclaimer: I do not own any CHERUB characters or anything out of the CHERUB world created and written about by Robert Muchamore. All rights to these characters and places belong to Muchamore.**

**Testing**

Paul slowly opened his eyes. He stared at the white ceiling for a minute before checking out the rest of the room. He saw that he was lying in a single bed, in a grey room. Besides the bed he saw the chair and bathroom.  
'This isn't Hyde Park,' he mumbled to himself.  
Some scènes for last night popped back in. Ming the Underground, the stab, the van with those people. Paul started to panic a bit. He did a quick check and couldn't find any injury. The only weird thing was that he was only wearing boxers and those weren't even his! Then his gaze was attracted to the chair. Paul noticed the yellow post-it on some clothes. It read: 'put these on and wait until someone walks in.' Paul ignored the second sentence, but still got dressed. He put on the cameo-trousers, black socks and dito military boots. 'Latest generation,' he murmured when he felt how the boots instantly molded to his feet. At last he unfolded the orange t-shirt. It showed the image of a cupid sitting on a globe. Underneath Paul read CHERUB.  
'Well, I don't know shit about this CHERUB, but it ain't the Black Dragons, so it can't be that bad, right?' he asked to no-one in particular. Paul put on the shirt and walked out the door.  
The corridor was painted green, with dark blue carpet. It was quite long and showed an elevator at the end of one side and a corner of another hallway. Paul slowly started walking towards the other hallway when a small child wearing a red shirt and same outfit as him came out of a room. It stopped and looked at him. Paul thought the boy couldn't be older than eight.  
'Hi, can you tell me where I am?' he asked in a friendly tone.  
'No talking to orange,' stammered the boy before slipping past him.  
'If its the shirt,' said Paul. he took of the shirt and threw it on the floor. 'Hey kid!'  
The boy had opened a door and looked at him with enlarged eyes. 'Mister Blueman, what do I say to a person wearing no shirt?' he asked someone.  
'What are you talking about? Everyone on campus has to wear their uniform Pete,' said a voice that was coming closer.  
Paul was standing next to the door when he saw the person Pete was talking to. A teenager with dark hair and eyes was staring at him. The guy had a slim build, but had some muscles. His expression changed to that one of a predator. Paul started running as if the devil was grilling his butt.

Kyle stared to the skinny kid that was standing in front of him with a bare chest. The kid got spooked and ran. Kyle saw him disappearing before a familiar voice called out.  
'Kyle have you seen a young guy?' asked Zara from a distance. Kerry was standing besides her.  
'Yeah, he's walking shirtless around campus, you just missed him.'  
Zara moaned as she and Kerry walked closer to Kyle.  
'He can't be far,' said Kyle reassuringly.  
'You don't get it. He's the latest member of the Delta's. You know them right?' asked Kerry.  
Kyle nodded. He knew all about the highly skilled, but also mentally deranged agents  
'He's probably the worst of the bunch,' said Zara before running down the hall. Kerry chased her shadow and vanished.  
'This will be campus news by tonight,' he said while smirking.

Paul bursted through a door and ran onto the perfectly mown lawn at the center of the campus. He saw several people wearing different coloured shirts. Mostly grey ones. They all stared when he ran past them. The boots squeaked while Paul ran past the athletics track.  
'There's no place to bloody hide,' he thought before running towards three girls dressed in white suits with coloured belts. Black, navy and black with white line. The one with the black belt was carrying a wooden sword. The tallest one was wearing the black and white heard screams and saw armed troops chasing him.  
Right before he ran passed the girls Paul fell down, felt a dull pain in his ankle and landed on a solid path. He stood up and looked at the girls who had stopped and were standing in front of him. The girl with the sword pointed the weapon towards him and smiled.  
'What the hell are you doing?' demanded Paul. He wanted to punch the girl, but he also wanted to run because of the incoming guards and scary looking lady who was running besides them.  
'What does it look like? I'm stopping you from running loose on campus, Beartattoo,' said the girl with the sword. The other two chuckled. Paul growled.  
But before he could attack Paul was surrounded by the guards, the lady with the black attire and fair hair stepped forward while pushing the girls back. She stared at him.  
'Who are you?' he asked sneeringly. Paul was hoping she would be at least a little bit intimidated.  
Zara grinned. 'Zara Asker, Chairwoman of CHERUB. This is our base.'  
Paul clenched his fists and moved his weight onto his right foot. 'And I am here because? I only remember Ming and the Underground.'  
'Well I wanted you to join our organization. As a member of a certain team.'  
'And what is it you do?'  
'We are a secret organization that uses children as spies. Part of MI5.'  
Paul started laughing and stopped only several moments later.  
'You're mad, bloody mad. Yeah right, you're telling me that all these kids are mini 007's?'  
'Well yes. But they prefer to be called cherubs. They fight crime on an international scale.'  
'I am still not convinced. lets just say that I join this organization, what in it for me?'  
'I can give you information about your parents and I could fulfill a dream of yours, you've always wanted to become a sharpshooter right?  
'Sounds reasonable, but there is one little detail.'  
'That is?'  
'Where are my dogtags? I was wearing them when I was kidnapped. If you want me to join, you give those back, right now.'  
Kerry stepped forward and gave Paul the tags. He took them and slid them around his neck. In that split second he was knocked down by Kerry. Before Paul could focus he was looking down a barrel of an M4 carbine, while Kerry was sitting on his chest.  
'Hi, I am Kerry Chang, your handler. I don't want any crap from you until you've completed the entrance exam and you will from now on adress me as Miss Chang. Got it?'  
'Yes ma'am,' said Paul semi-gasping for air. He stared into her eyes and saw the no nonsense glare.  
'I will see you later on, Zara he's all yours.'  
The guards all stood down as Zara approached the young man who was sitting up in the grass.  
She crouched onto his level. 'So now that you have those tags, do you want to join us or not? I could really use someone as you.'  
'If I get three meals a day and a hot shower every now and then, I'm in. But miss Chang said something about an entrance exam?'  
'That will be arranged. Well yes everyone who wants to join has to pass three tests. It's only some minor stuff such as an IQ test.'  
'What's the first one?' asked Paul while jumping up and staring at the girls who were looking at their feet.  
'Well let's just do this here, so we can get over it more quickly. Your first test is to fight one of those girls in a match. Just choose one of them.' The girls shuffled closer as Zara motioned them to join her.  
'The girl with the black belt and white line,' said Paul while removing his boots.  
The tallest girl stepped up. Her blond hair came up to her shoulders. She fixed her vest and belt.  
'Mia could you run to the administration and ask for a testing form, clipboard and ballpoint?' asked Zara to the girl with the sword. She nodded and sprinted off. 'Julia, please run to the dojo and grab a mouthguard for Paul. Do you need one Chloë?'  
Chloë shook her head and Julia ran in the opposite direction of Mia, towards a building.  
Paul looked at his opponent and saw that she was looking at him with a pair of blue eyes. She was also pretty muscular for a girl. He walked towards her and held out his hand.  
'Hi, I'm Paul, nice to meet you.'  
Chloë grabbed his hand. 'Chloë Porter, likewise,' she answered with a slight French accent.  
'Sempai, right? Don't I have to address you as sensei or something?'  
'Zara, where did you find Paul? Finally someone that knows his martial arts! And no you never have to call me sensei, unless I am giving you lessons. Are you a Delta?' The final question she asked while looking at Zara.  
'Well we found Paul in the Underground, this young man was roaming the streets of London. And yes, if he succeeds, Paul will join you and the others as the final member of Team Delta.'  
'Awesome.'  
Before the two could continue their conversation, Julia came back. The smallest - she was just a little smaller than Chloë - of the three youngsters gave Paul a box and his mouthguard, and scurried off to Zara without saying a word.  
'Ok now the match is simple. Paul you have to win only one of five rounds. If you want to submit you either say "submit" or tap the grass, got it?  
Paul nodded as he slid the mouth guard into place.  
The two fighters positioned themselves across the lawn and faced each other. Paul was the first to bow and holding his fist against each other. This action made Chloë look surprised.  
'Begin.'

Paul raised his fists and shifted his weight onto one foot. Chloë did the same, but slowly advanced. Chloë was the first to attack. She lunged forward and punched Paul right in the gut. Paul fell down and tapped the grass.  
'First point to Chloë.'  
Paul rose and started moving his feet around.  
The fight and preceding scene had peaked the interest of the other agents who were now all staring besides the arena.  
'You've had training. I can tell by the stance and movements,' said Chloë while moving with Paul. 'Care to elaborate?'  
'Couple of karate lessons. I hated them, Too repetitive. Also tried judo, that was actually fun. But let me guess. You know karate into a high degree so you have to know some other arts as well.'  
Paul charged at her, but Chloë anticipated and made him fall on his back. Immediately she held im a locked position. Paul instantly relaxed but Chloë's grip was too strong. He submitted.  
'Two - zilch.'  
'Please, you're not even trying, please do take me seriously,' she asked a bit annoyed.  
'Give me all you've got, and I will see what I can do.' Paul smiled. Chloë looked pissed.  
Paul bowed and took the stance. Chloë charged at him, jumped up and took a swing at his head with her foot. Paul blocked the hit with his left arm and moved away. The pain in his left arm almost unbearable. Being quite surprised Chloë had turned her attention back to him. She was standing close to the tree and Paul was breathing heavily.  
I've only got one shot at this.'  
Paul ran towards her. Chloë raised her arm to throw a wicked punch. Paul quickly accelerated and somersaulted over her; Chloë kicked him in the back and again pressed him into a lock.  
'Final submit, I can't hold this up any longer,' said Paul without trying to get out of her lock.  
'Well that's another victory for Chloë. And what is your verdict?' she asked the sempai.  
'He definitely can begin with martial arts training, he's fit enough and is able to block my kick. Since he knows the basics of escaping the locks, judo might be a good alternative. Or else taekwondo, he's got the legs for it. But I can only stress that he first has to master the karate basics, just to piss him off and because it's mandatory. '  
'Ok, that concludes the first test are you ready for numbers two and three?'  
'Can I first get a drink?' Paul asked while rubbing off the pain in his left arm.

The second test was a fast one. Paul had just spend two hours of filling in questions to a test, while listening to a repetition of the same pop songs.  
Paul dropped his pencil and handed in his answer sheets. The examiner gladly took them and looked through them with Zara who was sitting at a desk in the front. they whispered and occasionally glanced at Paul who was drawing something on a piece of unused paper. Paul pulled on his shirt to make it fit better. The orange color was almost blinding him.  
Zara thanked the man and joined Paul at his desk. She was looking at him. He was totally ignorant of her presence. His test was promising, but there was also something wrong in that brain of his, just like the rest of Team Delta. That was why Kerry was made their handler, she had studied psychology and had specialised in children with certain autistic tendencies.  
'Paul, you ready for three?'  
'Sure.'  
They walked out and went to the pool complex.

Zara pointed him to the changing room, while she continued towards the instruction-pool. She witnessed a swimming lesson of the younger red shirts. These were given by Amy and Danny. As they noticed Zara, they walked over. Zara looked at the two love-birds, who were now 27 years old. Amy had completed her Marine biology studies, but rejoined CHERUB afterwards as a staff member.  
'Hi guys, I've got a examinee coming in. Could you clear the pool and be on standby? I don't know how he will handle this test. He doesn't like water.'  
'Sure thing Chief,' said Danny. He went back to the redshirts and motioned them to get out, which they all did without any problem.  
'Another hydrophobic? If so he'll have to kick this fear's butt if he wants to complete the basic training.'  
'I'll keep that in mind,' said Paul out of nowhere. He was looking at the surprised women. 'What's the final test?'  
'Dive in, swim two lengths and then swim to the bottom and pick up any of the objects lying there,' said Zara.  
'Thats it?'  
'Yes,' she answered a bit frightened.  
Paul shrugged and walked over to the starting block and dived in, only to emerge halfway the length. A a steady pace he advanced using crawl.

_Mental note to self: What the hell are you doing! You don't like swimming because you almost drowned you twat! Are you going completely bonkers?_  
_Shut up. I don't care about you, you scaredy cat. I just want to know more about mom and dad, you've always wanted to know more about their childhood. And what about those christmas cards from friends we've never seen? _  
_Now take a deep breath and make the turn, I don't want you being in this pool much longer, deep inside you're going crazy with fear._

Paul arrived at the other side and took a deep breath. His vision was all blurred up, while he was exhaling to speed up the descent. With his hands he touched the bottom and started searching for an object. His hands found a small but heavy metallic object. Paul turned around and pushed off towards the surface. His lungs were screaming for air. With only a second to spare Paul breached the surface and grasped the side. He threw out the object and took a good look. It was a wrench. He saw the three adults looking at him.  
'Now that I've completed these tests you better start spilling, ma'am,' he said to Zara while climbing out of the pool. He slowly started walking towards the changing room, then everything went black.


	3. Team Delta

**Still don't own CHERUB, all credit for the characters and created world go to Robert Muchamore.**

**3. Team Delta**

'He fainted because of his high blood pressure and elevated adrenaline levels. Was he acting under severe stress?' asked a soothing voice.  
'He had just finished his final test. He had swam and he's scared of being submerged in water,' answered Zara's voice.  
'Well that might explain it. He suffered from an adrenaline drop. Looks like he's waking up.'  
Paul opened his eyes fully and looked at Zara and the new face. Paul assumed that he was the doctor.  
'Well how are we feeling?' asked the doctor. 'I'm Sam Quincy, the doc.'  
'I'm feeling fine, but my head hurts a little. It's a dull pain,' said Paul.  
'Thats called a headache, my friend. You knocked your head on the ground.'  
'Yeah about that, everything went black and I felt weak.'  
Paul stared at the worried faces of the adults.  
'But that doesn't mean anything right? I still passed right?'  
Zara smiled. 'Yes, but since you're here I want you checked out before we make it really official.'  
'Oh boy.'

Paul opened the door and walked into the room. He saw the treadmill and the nurse standing besides it. She had auburn hair that was cut at shoulder length. She was also wearing a navy blue uniform.  
'Hi, you must be Paul? I am Hannah, I will be assisting doctor Quincy with this final test.'  
'Pleased to meet you.'  
'I see that you've already changed into your running gear, but you'll have to take of the shoes before I measure you.'  
Paul slipped out of the shoes and walked over to the wall and pressed his back against the ruler.  
'5.25 ft.' Hannah scribbled down the number. Next she directed Paul over to the scale. Paul stepped up.  
'81 and a half pounds. Bit on the low side, but still fixable,' she said smilingly.  
Paul refastened his shoes and stepped on the treadmill. Hannah strapped a blood pressure cuff around his right arm and stuck several electrodes on his bare chest.  
'So the cuff will measure your blood pressure during the exercise, these electrodes will give us information on your heartbeats per minute and saturation levels.'  
'Thats BP, my heart rate and oxygen level, if I remember correctly.'  
'That is indeed correct. Now for the final attribute.'  
Hannah pulled out an oxygen mask and strapped into firmly into place using the velcro straps.  
'Not too tight?'  
Paul shook his head.  
'Well lets get started then,' said Quincy while entering the room.  
Paul felt the oxygen flowing in the mask and the mill started to move. At a slow pace he started walking.  
'Ok, lets go a bit faster, shall we?'  
The speed was increased and Paul started running. In his mind he was wondering how long this would take.  
An hour later Hannah turned off the treadmill and freed Paul from the mask and the electrodes. Paul climbed off and took a seat on the examination table  
'You're quite the runner. You've just covered a two and a half mile in one hour. I wish I could see what you could do with a bit more weight and muscle on that skinny body of yours. But there is no rush into excessive training, so I recommend a healthy diët , your sugar level is on the high side and some muscle training. And that's it.'  
Paul thanked the doc in between two breaths, as he was lying on his belly on the table.  
'And now you will figure out why this is done at the end of this exercise,' announced Hannah while donning gloves and moving over a tray full of injections. Don't look so scared they all go in the buttocks and won't hurt a bit. Now drop the shorts.'

Paul followed the instructions of Hannah and walked over to the main building and went to Zara's office. He was resisting the urge to rub his sore buttocks. He arrived at the waiting room. He noticed the five persons sitting there, and recognized Chloë, Mia and Julia. The other two were boys. The smallest one resembled Chloë, he had the same hair color and same nose, but had brown eyes. The other one was the complete opposite. That guy was broad shouldered, had raven black hair and brown eyes. Paul saw that they all wore the same light blue colored shirts. The bulky guy grinned wickedly at him. Paul quickly knocked on the door and entered.  
'Ah Paul, right on time. Please take a seat,' said Zara pointing to the empty chair next to Kerry's.  
'I rather not, it's kind off...'  
'Oh that's right,' said Kerry semi-chuckling. 'The shots.'  
'Yes the shots straight in the butt, all twelve of them.'  
'Now let us discuss your results. The first test was a success. You know your body and limits to the bone. Your written exam was quite astonishing. You filled in more than 80% of the test, and 70% of those answers were correct. You've shown great skill in applying physics, not so much on the theory. Math was also in the high grades, but no real mathwiz. You seem to be able to think rationally and have the ability to think out of the box. On the language side you scored lower, but that was because you only filled out half of the questions. You seem to have basic knowledge in Dutch, French, Spanish and German. Your result for English was one of the highest I've seen. I presume that this was thanks to your parents?'  
'Yes, they spoke several languages themselves and taught me the basics in those. My English is this good, because they drilled it in me. The physics part is thanks to my dad. My mom was a doctor and taught all I know about the body.'  
'You also passed the final test. You would've even passed if you had only jumped in, but you completed the assignment.'  
'Well that was because you promised me to give me more information on my parents if I passed the tests.'  
'About that. I can only give you the following information for now, for the rest I'll have to check it with the archive.'  
'Spill.'  
Zara glanced at Kerry and back at Paul Kerry got the message and left the room.  
'Your parents were CHERUB agents. They both ended their careers at seventeen, with 16 missions for your dad, 21 for your mom. They both ended their careers with black shirts. They never knew about their pasts until they bumped into each other on a reunion day. That was actually a funny scene.'  
'Wait you knew my parents?'  
'I knew your mom from my days at CHERUB. I met your dad on that reunion day. We kept in touch over the years and thats why you are here. They often joked about having their kids enroll at CHERUB, but it never was realistic until you mom died in that riot. After that you're dad contacted me and asked me to enroll you in CHERUB if something would happen to him.'  
'So is that why you gave me that picture at the funeral, the one where they are smiling?'  
'Yes in the frame I hid a tracker. Just to keep you out of real harm until we could draft you into the organization.'  
'Thanks I guess,' replied Paul a bit overwhelmed.  
'I will give you more info if it becomes available. you're not allowed to read anything about their missions, so we have to clear out every reference to those in their files. But enough of that. How would you like to meet and join the rest of your team?'  
Paul nodded slightly,a s if he was scared of what to come.  
'Kerry, you can bring them in now.'  
The door opened and the five persons Paul had seen in the hall walked in, followed by Kerry. They quickly stood in a straight line.  
'Paul you can now introduce yourself to the rest of Team Delta.'  
'Erhm, well. I'm Paul Trant fourteen years old. Apparently I'm a physics geek and language person. I hate being submerged under water and I have a tattoo of a grizzly bear on the left side of my torso. It got me the streetname of Grizzly, if you want you can also call me by that name,' said Paul quite nervously as he stared at his feet. He could feel fourteen eyes seeing right through him.  
'Is Trant your old of new name?' asked Chloë.  
'Erh what?'  
'Oh yeah I forgot something,' said Zara a bit embarrassed. 'Paul, you'll have to change your last name. Front and middle names are optional.'  
'Paul Andrew Winters.'  
To Zara's surprise the Delta's started grinning, Mia chuckled. 'What's so funny cadet Swift?'  
'Don't you get it? Grizzly Paul Andrew Winters aka Grizzly PAW. Paul clearly wants to be associated with the bear.' Paul blushed as he accepted her explanation.  
'Well Team Delta say hi to your newest member Bear.'  
Julia was the first member to introduce herself. She used the hands to communicate with sign language.  
'Hi nice to meet you Julia Cain,' translated Chloë. 'You did pretty well against Chloë. First time I've seen someone taking a hit and standing back up. Please slow down I can't follow Jules. Well I don't like talking to people. I am what people would call a thief, a master in the art of lock picking, safe cracking and pickpocketing. Not so good in the educational field. Please read this.'  
Julia took out a plastified card with a text printed on it and handed it to Paul.  
'Yeah she wants you to read it.'  
Paul did what he was asked and returned the card. Next up was Mia.  
'Mia Swift also fourteen, one year older than Jules. I would be Team Delta's knife and medium range combat expert. I can kick your butt with nothing but a treebranch. Weapons of choice are my personalized bokken and knife. What my defunct is? I am addicted to peanut M&Ms and eat them according a specific pattern. Chloë you're up.  
'Chloë Porter, thirteen years old, twin sister to Francis. The close combat and martial arts expert of the team. Sempai grade in karate, black belt in jiu jitsu, blue belt in judo and training to master Taekwondo. I will be teaching you karate the coming two weeks. Probably the sanest in the bunch. John your turn.'  
The broad shouldered guy smiled and shook Pauls hand. 'John Gray, Delta's explosives and science expert, also speak four languages, sign language included. I will be having German with you these coming weeks and teach you the theory of physics. Oh one little detail, I'm a pyromaniac,' he said smiling.  
'I would prefer fire over water everyday,' answered Paul grinning.  
'And last but not least. Francis Porters,' said the boy resembling Chloë. 'Master hacker and tech geek.'  
'And please don't forget to add the inability to cope with your OCD. My brother has this specific ritual when using his computer when hacking and doing his tech stuff.'  
'Same goes for you sis, it is seen as less bad, but it still is an OCD.'  
The siblings started arguing with each other.  
'Not to be rude or anything, but why am I joining this team?' asked Paul when Kerry silenced the Porters. The members and their handler looked at him quite surprised. 'It's just that this team seems to have every base covered.'  
Kerry smiled. 'First off all you're joining this team because you're also a owner of a faulty brain. Yes we know about you being a slight autist, your rituals and patterns and symptoms of PTSD. And this troop didn't have a long range and firearms expert. I would just like to see how far that we can take this long range thing.'  
'Got a firing range?'  
'Dumbest question in history,' replied Mia.

Several minutes later Paul was wearing a pair of protective headphones and holding a 9mm in his hands. In rapid succession he fired the rounds straight into the bullseye, hanging 50 meters away. Paul retrieved the magazine and set the pistol on safe mode.  
'That is one of the best results that I've seen. 90% fatality, great for a rookie. Or am I mistaken?' asked Thomas the instructor.  
'Not a complete rookie. I've had some practice with my dad.'  
'Chairwoman Asker also wanted you to take a long range test. What weapon would you try and at which distance?'  
'A bolt action AWM at 500 meters, that would be my maximum at this time.'  
Thomas retrieved the gun from the weaponry and guided Paul outside. There he mounted the weapon onto the bipod and pre-loaded the weapon. He gave Paul the all clear.  
Paul breathed in and out when he took place behind the scope and shoulderpiece. After this glance he took off his tags and wrapped them around the barrel and mumbled a thank you.  
Before he retook his place he saw that the other people training had stopped to look at him. He also saw his team members, Kerry and Zara watching from behind the safety barrier. Paul again placed himself into the position and retracted the bolt and looked through the scope and took the shot. The bullet pierced the paper heart. Paul repeated the action five times until the magazine was empty. He took back his tags and turned around.  
'I guess this makes me Team Delta's long range expert,' he said smiling broadly.


	4. Building up confidence

**4. Building up confidence**

'Morning,' said Kerry walking in Paul's room, not caring about his protests. She deposited his gi and schedule for the next two weeks. 'And what do you think?'

'About what?' he asked still half asleep.

'This,' Kerry answered quite loudly while gesturing around her.

'The room's nice, much better than my spot under the apple tree and bushes,' said Paul climbing out of bed and getting dressed.

'Not the room you buffoon. CHERUB and Delta,' she sighed.

'Oh that,' he said smirking. 'It will be a bloody blast.'

'Yeah one more thing. That tongue better start increasing its politeness or you will run several punishment laps each day.'

Kerry left the room.

'That's mean,' said Paul pouting. 'Complete bollocks.'

'I heard that cadet Winters. That's two laps around the track.'

Paul gritted his teeth.

Paul arrived at the cafeteria and walked over to the buffet. There he loaded his plate with bacon, eggs and several slices of cheddar. When he had filled his glass with orange juice he looked around the place and found the Delta's sitting at the farthest table against the wall. He started walking over. He felt several gazes burning in his back, but kept going.

'Morning,' said Mia.

'Morning,' he replied.

'Looking forward to going back to school? It's been awhile right?' asked Francis.

'Like you haven't already hacked into my personal file, but yes it's been several months and I'm not really looking forward to it.'

'And that is because?' asked Julia trough John.

'From the moment I've set foot on the campus as the newest member of Delta people stare at me like I'm a freak.'

'Welcome to our daily world, Bear. This is why we sit here, away from the gazes and jerks.' answered Mia. The others went silent.

'Meh I'll survive. I wonder how many of those little Cherubs would survive six months in London on gang turf. They would probably go crying for mommy on day one.'

'Is that so little man?' asked a low voice from behind him. A guy with fair hair and black shirt stood up and walked over. His clear blue eyes stared straight at Paul.

Paul froze and returned to his food.

'Cat got your tongue? Let me tell you something basket case. You already know what this shirt means right?'

Paul nodded.

'Black shirts are the most highly decorated agents in this place and don't want little trainees giving them any crap, especially not me. So why don't you and your little mentally retarded team leave this place and don't bother us again. We all know they'll never get through basic training, they already failed once. Just go home and cry to mommy, mister Longshot.'

The guy started laughing and his friends joined in.

Paul resisted for as long as he could, but gave in to the building anger. He grabbed his tray and smashed it into the guys face. Paul didn't let him recover and grabbed his head and pressed it against the table. Paul grasped his knife and held it in front of the guy's eyes.

'Listen to me clearly mister?'

The guy struggled to get free but Paul just crushed his nose against the table and kept on pressing until he submitted.

'Jason Jacobson.'

'Okay listen to me very carefully Jacobson. Each member of this team could easily kick your ass in their chosen field, that makes four lethal ones. From now on you will say 'hi' to my friends every morning for the remainder of your career. I am Team Delta's long range expert. You know what that means right? Guess you don't. Well it means I can shoot a bullet from 500 metres straight between your eyes. And I couldn't care less about their past experiences with that basic training thing, because this time I will make sure they'll get the shirt and become black shirts before you can say 'Team Delta is the greatest.' One more thing: don't you ever bring up my mother again. I will kill you if you fuck with me ever again.'

Paul let Jason go and took back his seat. Team Delta was smiling silently. Julia mouthed a thanks to him as she gave him a cheddar cheese sandwich since his breakfast was spread all over the cafeteria floor.

'No problem.'

'Paul Andrew Winters, my office now!' yelled Zara from the staff table.

'Damn, I knew I had forgotten something.'

'See you in physics class this afternoon,' said John smiling before Paul grinned and walked towards the exit, where a furious Zara and Kerry were waiting for him. He justed kept on eating the sandwich.

Kerry tried to keep a stern look on her face while staring at Paul. They had been in Zara's office for over fifty-five minutes and were still waiting for Zara to enter. Kerry had noticed the shift in Pauls expression as they arrived at the office. He went from "couldn't care less" to "that was not the best idea" Now he was fidgeting with his fingers in order to calm his nerves.

At last Zara came in and winked at Kerry and showed a little smile before going back to stern and cold in front of Paul. Zara placed some files on her desk and stared at Paul who looked at her with a regretful look. She kept her eyes glued to him, when she took a seat.

'Anything to say before I begin?' she asked

Paul mumbled something.

'What?'

'He started it,' repeated Paul with a small voice.

'So that gives you the right to break his nose and give a textbook example of how not to react to intimidation?'

'Well yeah. I think it gives me the right to teach jerks a lesson when they insult me and call my team a bunch of mentally retarded kids. They are ten times smarter than that kid. And since when does having the scared black shirt give you the right to go all a-hole on other people? I know that the Delta's aren't the most sociable people on campus but they have feelings too you know.'

Paul glanced at Zara and noticed a surprised look. He smiled in his thoughts.

'You give an excellent argument, but still I can't have you go freely. I wanted you running two hundred laps around the track, but Kerry made me change my mind. You will run only hundred laps in one week and no access to the firing range for that week. And before you go all crazy for having your marksman training revoked, this arrangement will give you the ability to recover before basic training that is due in two weeks time.'

'Fair enough. But can I ask a final question?'

Zara nodded.

'Is it okay if I run those laps with some extra weights? If I'm losing time on shooting I might as well do some muscle training.'

A bit puzzled Zara looked at Paul. 'Ermh sure, Kerry can you give him what he wants? But there's no haste. As prescribed you will run the laps after class.'

'Suits me, I'll need some ankle and wrist weights of a kilogram of else a backpack with lets say 10 kilo's.'

Kerry nodded as Paul sprinted out the room.

'Glad we didn't tell him that Jason deserved to get his arse kicked. His arrogance due to his success has had a negative influence on some of the younger Cherubs.'

'I will pretend I didn't hear that Zara. but i does remind me of a certain somebody,' Kerry said smiling.

'About that. Were you able to contact them?'

'Yes, but not everyone will be able to make it or really wants to. Can't blame them, they've been out of the system for a couple of years now.'

'Then we will have to fill up the ranks in a different way.'

Paul scribbled down the last formula and symbols. He closed his physics book and wanted to leave the classroom but John stopped him.

'Why are you so in a hurry?'

'Man, Zara has me running 100 laps in a week that means about fourteen laps a day. And on top of that I'm not allowed to go anywhere near the firing range. So if you please? I've got work to do.'

'Don't forget to learn this theory by tomorrow, I'm going to quiz you on it.'

Paul grumbled and left the room. He went straight to his room and found a note from Kerry.

Here are some running shoes and the weights. There is also a swimsuit. Please do take this advice and go to the pool complex afterwards and treat yourself to an hour of nice hot water.

The note was signed with a smiley. 'Will do Miss Chang.'

'Hey heard you got laps to run,' said Mia entering his room.

'Do Cherubs ever knock?' he asked.

'I'm not a Cherub yet, so can't know for sure,' she answered chuckling. 'No seriously. Thanks for whopping Jasons arse, you are the first one to ever do it and you defended us.'

'That's no problem. You guys are my team and nobody disses my friends.'

'Want me to join you running laps? It's more fun with two and besides Jules locked herself up for tonight and Chloë is studying some boring subject. And the boys, well you know.'

'Sure.'

One and a half hour later the two were halfway through the twenty laps Paul wanted to do. The sun was setting down and they stopped for a minute. Paul removed the weights and sat on the bench next to Mia. He had been running with his shirt around his waist. Mia was still wearing her shirt, which was soaked with sweat. Paul opened the bottle of water they had brought along and gave it to Mia who drank one third before returning it.

'This is bad. What will happen in basic training if I'm already totally exhausted with four kilometres at an easy pace?'

'Don't worry. You've got two weeks to get accustomed to running with weights. Chloë is a great teacher. She'll probably stomp the basics in a record time and believe me she will. We all got training from her and not Takada like the rest of the campus. And she trains some red shirts too.'

'Yeah there was something I wanted to ask. Do all agents teach classes to younger kids?'

'Nope only the most skilled agents train some redshirts and also the skills or subjects have to be teachable. Like John teaches chemistry and physics, Francis hacking, ICT and math to a certain degree, Jules sometimes gives tutoring sessions in lockpicking and safecracking and Chloë teaches karate and jiu jitsu.'

'No teacher job for me then, I only got skills with a gun and doesn't quite help with undercover things.'

'Makes two of us. Knives and wooden sticks are apparently too dangerous be given to red shirts,' she replied with a laugh.

Paul stared at Mia and found that she looked beautiful in the light of the setting sun. She was retying her shoelaces so her French braid (black hair) dangled in the air. Her grey eyes looked at him.

'Ready?' she asked.

'Sure,' Paul answered refastening the weights to his ankles and wrists.

They both stood up and continued running until they were too exhausted to run any more. They did twenty four laps before going their separate ways. Paul went to the complex and greatly appreciated Kerry's advice as he felt a lot better afterwards. The earlier image of Mia came to mind and made him smile.

Don't get too excited Bear, you don't know if she likes you.

Shut it.

Mia stepped into the elevator and looked at her reflection. She found herself smiling. Mia pressed the button and waited until the doors closed. She sat down and grasped her knees. The thought of Paul staring at her made her all warm inside. She shook her head and refused to acknowledge the feeling.

'No way a guy like him could like a girl like me,' she whispered before the doors opened and she jumped up and hurried to her room.

Mia bursted in and closed the door and dropped on her bed. The bags of unopened peanut M&M's were opened in a flash and Mia started sorting the treats by color. Mia deposited every color into a separate containers and placed them neatly next to each other on her shelf. Now that her weekly ritual was completed she felt better and went to bed.

The next six days passed quickly and the Delta's grew accustomed having a new member after being with five for nearly a year and a half. On the final day of Pauls no shooting week, he only had four laps left to run. There were some tensions in the group as the other four Delta's couldn't quite understand why Paul and Mia never spoke to each other without 'going all weird,' as Francis put it. Paul had each day received heavy karate training and had advanced to the green belt which had satisfied Chloë for the moment. He also started learning sign-language because Paul found it annoying to keep Chloë or John translating everything Jules said.

It was already past midnight when Paul snuck out of his room and silently went outside and immediately went to the tracks in order to finish up the laps from both Zara and Kerry, as she had given him ten extra laps for swearing in front of a redshirt when bumping his head against the door.

Paul fastened his weights and started running. After two laps a noise had scared him as he also had felt something flying right passed him. Paul heard gentle footsteps coming closer.

'Oh God I hope I did not hit you?' asked a male voice while advancing.

'No, but who are you? I can't see you.'

The boy had turned on a flash light and aimed it at the ground. He was standing a couple of feet away so Paul went closer. He noticed the kid was about sixteen and was completely covered in black. Paul only could see his slightly tanned face and blue eyes. Paul also noticed the compound bow the kid was carrying.

'Hi there, I'm George Tamer,' said the guy.

'Paul Winters,' replied Paul shaking his hand.

'Oh yes, you're that kid who smacked Jason. Nice action by the way.'

'That is going to haunt me forever.'

'Maybe, but somebody had to do it eventually. He's been bullying the Delta's for too long.'

Paul thought he saw George smiling. 'So why are you here?' he asked sheepishly.

'Relaxing and shaking of a failed mission.'

'And you do this by shooting other people?'

'Not intentionally. Archery makes me feel calm and it can't be bad training to do some training in the dark. So what about those weights?'

'Extra muscle training, since I'm forbidden to go anywhere near the shooting range.'

'Oh. Kind of makes sense. But listen before I go, I wanted to ask you something.'

'Shoot.'

'Please help the Delta's get their grey shirts, at this rate they should've been at least navy shirts, black even. I don't know why they never wanted to redo basic training after they failed the first time.'

'That's the past, I only look at the future. Together we will overcome this basic training, I promise. One hundred days of push-ups and assault-courses, can't be that bad right?'

'If you think so, but we'll see. See you in a week Cadet Winters.'

George left Paul as he tried to erase the shocked expression of his face.

The next morning Paul woke up and silenced his alarm clock. He crawled from under his covers and stared at his desk. He saw that two brown files had been deposited on there. Paul walked over to his wall and colored the date black to complete the checkered pattern. As he got dressed he read the yellow post-it.

'Dear Cadet Winters, here you'll find the files as agreed upon. Happy reading!

PS: No more running laps after ten o'clock, next time you're on cleaning duty.

Signed: Zara Asker'

Paul flipped open the first file and looked at the picture of his dad. It was the most recent picture. For a fraction of a second Paul saw the face all bloodied and torn up. Paul closed the file and left his room.

'What's up Bear? You're not paying much attention,' said Mia during math.

'Nothing, I'm just haven't slept that well,' he replied with a faint smile.

'Oh okay.'

After math class Paul went to German class with John. After twenty minutes they stopped paying attention and played hangman for the remainder of the class.

'Cadets Winters and Gray! Done playing games? Ten laps for the both of you,' barked Hans Kraft. He was staring at the two with his stern, blue eyes.

'Yes sir,' replied Paul with a sigh. John only grumbled.

'Now let us continue with the conjunction of the modal verbs.'

After German both cadets left for the track as they had no other courses that day. With a simultaneous sigh they started running.

'John, can I ask you something? Its a pretty serious question.'

'Sure.'

'What happened when you and the rest of team Delta quit the basic training?'

John stopped and looked at his friend. Paul saw a scared look in his eyes. They started running again.

'It was nothing like the previous ninety-three days. We were the only ones left from a group of ten. The main instructor was Lt. Rover, a woman from Hell. Together with her crew of helpers, she made our lives so fucking miserable. But that day she took it to the next level.' John stopped and took a breath.

'She messed with our heads Bear. She gave us assignments that went against our weak points. We all crashed under the mental pressure.'

'Weak points?'

'The faulty brains, man. I'll explain. Francis was asked to hack into a network without his hackhat and other materials. He fucked up so badly he almost killed himself. Jules was asked to solve university grade math probs while naming several martial arts moves and ranks. You have to know that Jules really hates math and she can't really focus when doing two things at the same time. She ended up in fetal position while weeping. Afterwards she stopped talking. Mia was asked to arrange colours in a specific pattern. Every attempt was wrong, according to Rover. She was the first to crash. I don't know what happened to Chloë, she refuses to talk about it.'

'And you?'

'I was asked to light several fires to give the rest the chance to stop with their assignments. I was unable to light a single one. Rover gave me faulty equipment and made me watch the others crash while laughing. If I get the chance, I would love to light her up. After the two day physical recovery, we were all sent to Meryl Spencer and a bloody shrink. And as a team, we decided to delay our second attempt as long as possible.'

'Oh. I'm sorry.'

'Nah, its okay. We had to tell you at some point so... Come on lets get these laps over with.'

Without exchanging another word, the two finished their laps.

That evening Paul was sitting on his bed with his headphones on. He was reading the files of his parents. He was quite surprised to find out that they were actually really smart people. His dad must've been playing his athlete-no-brains attitude. He wondered why his mom only was a GP and not a surgeon or something, as she easily could've passed the training and education.

Without a warning. Five people barged in and stared at him. Paul removed his headphones and looked at him teammates.

'Are you still going to join us?' asked Chloë.

'What are you babbling about?'

'We know John told you what happened,' answered Julia.

'Do you want to take your chances with us? We might screw things up again,' said Francis.

Paul jumped up. His teammates backed up.

'Listen very carefully. We are a team, I go where you go. You go where I go. This means that I will do everything in my power to make us succeed. Fuck Rover and her bunch of pitty fuckers. Once we have those shirts, its payback time. One hundred days. That is the time I ask you to bear with me. 100 lousy days. We are Delta. We will crush basic training like a bloody fly. This is tough, CHERUB's might be tougher, but Team Delta is the toughest."

One by one every member repeated the phrase. In the end they walked out the building and started to sing it out loud. For the rest of the week, they trained, slept and ate without thinking about the training.


	5. Preparation

**Disclaimer: I do not own any CHERUB characters or anything out of the CHERUB world created and written about by Robert Muchamore. All rights to these characters and places belong to Muchamore.**

**5. Preparation**

The week before the particular moment the members of Team Delta trained almost non-stop, polishing their set of skills. Paul mostly stuck to his routine of school, running/exercise, marksman training. So did the other members. At the end of that week, their tiny phrase had become their "survivalcreed", as Francis said. This creed was heard several times a day by the other residents of the campus. That week only two things happened that are worth describing. First is the incident involving Mia and Paul that happened on Monday.

'Wanna go do some laps?' asked Mia. She was wearing her running outfit.

'Sure,' replied Paul chucking his math book on his bed.

The two of them walked out of the building. They jogged towards the tracks when they heard a familiar voice saying Pauls name. The two of them ran towards the laughter that came from the inside. Paul crouched next to Mia right under the window.

'Those bloody Delta's? They're never going to become agents,' said Jason.

'What makes you so sure?' asked a girl.

'Are you kidding me? They are all mentally deranged, like seriously unstable. You've all heard the story right? How they all fucked up basic?'

'Yeah, but they've been training all week. The new kid got them all fired up.'

'Okay, fair enough, but what if I tell you that I heard Zara, Kerry and Rose talking about them. I've had the opportunity to get these exact words: "They aren't agent material. They weren't and aren't supposed to succeed BT. They'll never go beyond the blue shirt."'

'In that case lets start a betting pool,' said a girl. 'Five pounds per bet. Betting can be done on the following: first Delta to crack, the day that the first one cracks, the day that they all have quit BT or if they succeed in doing the full 100 days.'

Chatter started to rise from the room.

Paul and Mia looked at each other in shock. Anger was building up within Paul. He was breathing heavily through his nose, clenching his teeth. Mia pulled him away from the window. They stopped behind another wall.

'Bear, listen to me. He's lying okay? Zara and Kerry would never talk like that.'

'Who's that Rose?' His anger started to fade.

'The campus shrink. You'll meet her in a day or two. They always have this evaluation before BT.'

Paul freed his hand from her grip and stared at her. Her grey eyes stared back. For almost two weeks now he had tried to ignore the feeling that they gave him. He always felt light when she talked at him. In that split second he pressed his lips against hers. For three seconds they just stood there, before Mia pushed him away.

'Not now,' she said. 'We have to keep focused on BT.'

They walked off towards the tracks. The message from Jason kept floating in Paul's mind.

The next thing that needs to be mentioned, is the fact that Francis had found a document while hacking into the campus network. It was a note of some sort. It read:

***Basic Training Delta's***

_Twenty-four confirmations. The assignment is being prepared. SAS training compound dito._

Francis showed the note while they all, except Jules, waited in the hall in front of Rose's psychroom.

'I don't like this,' said John. 'That training compound is bad news.'

'What is it?' asked Paul.

'Its a training compound for the special forces and the army. Its a simulation of an urban environment, with run down buildings, cars and much more. CHERUB uses it for tactical training.'

'Sounds interesting,' said Paul smiling.

'You've got a plan haven't you?' asked Mia.

'Maybe,' said Paul as he walked towards the door that Jules had just opened.


	6. Basic Training From Hell

**Disclaimer: I do not own any CHERUB characters or anything out of the CHERUB world created and written about by Robert Muchamore. All rights to these characters and places belong to Muchamore.**

**6. Basic Training From Hell**

There it was. The morning of their hundred-day ordeal. The six of them were standing in front of the gate that closed off the basic training compound. They all had put on clean clothes including a pair of fresh socks. Six persons, all wearing the black boots and the provided blue shirts. At precisely 5:30 the gate opened.

'This is tough,' began Paul. 'Cherubs are tougher.'

'But Delta is the toughest,' finished the rest.

They all walked over the line separating Heaven from Hell.

**Delta Basic Training - Start Day 1**

Kerry watched through the window how "her agents" walked into the compound. She sighed and wished them good luck in her thoughts. She was confident that they would make it, she couldn't care less about other peoples opinion. Zara had it all wrong. In her hand she clasped the five-pound note that Paul had given her. He had told her to place it on the 100th day.

'Move it cadets!,' shouted a girl who was wearing a white shirt and cameo-pants. She had brown hair that was cut at shoulderlength. Her brown eyes had a stern look.

The six of them ran into the building which was the place where they slept.

'Line up!,' yelled a boy. Paul recognized him as George, the archer.

They all lined up and stood up straight. Their bags layed at their feet. Both instructors started emptying the bags. Clothes were spread all over the room. Other things were placed on top of the table.

'Cadets Porter, both of you and Cain. Down and give me ten push-up,' said the girl.

The three did what they were told.

'You all know the rules. No cellphones, Porter, No personal items, other Porter and last but not least no stuffed animals, cadet Cain. This is Basic Training, not some vacation!' said George. He took and stared at the small knife.

The three lined back up with the rest.

'Two minutes to get your clothes off the floor and place them in your lockers. Male Porter one, Cain two, Female Porter three, Gray four, Swift five, Winters six. Go!.'

They are scurried around and grabbed their clothes to place them in their respective lockers.

'Now stand at attention!,' screamed the girl. 'I am Charlotte Tops. This is George Tamer. We will be the assistants of Lt. Rover for the next hundred days.'

Paul could imagine that the rest went all tense. This was the woman who crushed them and their hopes. He had promised to lead them through this ordeal. Paul was smiling.

'What's so funny Winters?' asked Charlotte.

'Nothing ma'am.'

'Then drop and give me twenty push-ups. Lets see if you can still smile after that.'

'Ah. The cadets have arrived,' said a female voice.

Paul finished his push-ups and stared at this woman. She had raven-black hair, a long face, with a ice-cold gaze. He could see the muscles through her uniform, a complete camo-suit, with black boots.

She walked past them and stopped in front of Paul. 'This is a new one. Winters right?' Paul nodded. 'Then I'll do some explaining before we continue. The next hundred days will look something like this: get up at five, shower get dressed and assault course till seven, breakfast, special training till ten, School till 16:00, assault again till 18:00, then maybe diner at 18:30, shower and washing clothes, homework till eight. Then from 20:15 till 21:00, physical training. Then to bed.'

'Yes, ma'am.'

'Ooh, we've got ourselves a little obedient puppy. Then you can lead the way to the assault course, Cadet Puppy. Move it!'

The six Delta's ran out of the building towards the course.

**Day 4**

'Rise and shine cadets, a brand new day has arrived!,' shouted Rover.

The six of them got up and stood in front of their beds.

'Puppy, ten sit-ups please. Porters, twenty jumping jacks. The rest, stand on left leg until the rest has finished,' barked Rovers.

The six complied without question. After four days the Team got the message: lay low and survive. And everything was a test.

'Before you can have your nutritious breakfast, a small change of plans. Today it'll be two trips down the course. In pyjamas,' smirked Charlotte.

John lead the way as the rest followed in nothing more than a pair of trousers or shorts. Luckily it was still hot, during those last days of summer. They all jogged to the course.

The ground was hard, and dust formed at every landing. Paul ran up the final hill with John and Francis following. The girls had slipped passed them at the start of round two. They fell onto the ground and gasped for air.

'Now boys, aren't you supposed to be the stronger sex?' smiled Rover. 'Extra exercises for the "men".

The boys groaned as they were sent back to base.

**Day 12**

'No spoon?' asked Francis sarcastically as George brought in the packets of milk and cereals.

'I can also go for no breakfast, cadet Porter,' replied George with a smile. 'Now, eat.'

The six of them ate the cereals in a split second.

'For today we're having shooting practice and espionage class,' announced Charlotte.

'Finally,' said Paul

'Not so fast cadet Winters. Since you're so eager and trigger happy, you better get a least a hit rating of 85 %, or you're not getting any lunch,' announced George.

'Any extra assignments for espionage class?' asked Chloë.

'It's always nice to hear that no fuss was made during class,' said Charlotte. 'So you better behave. Now off you go.'

The six of them left the building and walked towards the school. After they had reached the building, Francis and Julia nodded to Paul and the other before they all went into the room, where Mr. Sage was waiting to show them the latest espionage toys.

'Ah, there you are,' said the forty year old man with the big mustache and bald head. 'Morning.'

'Morning sir,' replied team Delta. They took a seat in pairs. Mia and Chloë, Jules and Francis and Paul and John.

'Today we'll be looking at the latest camera that we have developed. And we'll continue with those phone camera's from last time.'

Sage showed them some pictures from the different stages of development. The final shot was from a camera as almost small as the tip of pen.

'Small enough to be placed nearly everywhere, but still has a lense that is big enough to capture a person's face. 20 megapixel.'

'Have you developed it?' asked Mia.

'I've helped with the design and functionality. But I had an entire team to help out. kind off like you children. Every member of that team had its own skillset,' said Sage smiling broadly. 'But enough of that, let us get started for today.'

Sage gave every duo a camera that was connected to a small screen. They turned them on and started fooling around. Paul almost stuck the camera in John's nose.

'Now if you would use this camera, where would it be?'

'I would say when meeting up with criminals. It can easily be fitted into a pair of glasses or watch,' responded Paul.

'Wrong,' said Mia. 'This thing,' she held up the screen,' can't be fitted on a pair of glasses. This thing is too big.'

'It can't be done on glass, but it can be done otherwise,' said Francis.

'How so?' asked Sage.

'It can easily disguised as a phone, then you can easily transmit the footage to a base,' said Francis. 'If you give me a smartphone and some tools, I could do it here.'

'I'll get some tools, the phones can be found in that cupboard. Please don't break anything.'

Sage left the room.

'Now that's something I didn't calculate in when coming up with this phase,' said Paul.

'Just get the phones,' said Chloë nervously.

Julia stood up from her seat and walked over to the cupboard. As a master in the art of pickpocketing, she quickly grabbed one and slid it into her pocket. The other one she casually walked over to Francis, who turned it on.

'All right, they have internet access on campus. if this works in the barracks, I should be able to open the way towards phase two.'

'I love it when a plan comes together,' said Paul.

Sage re-entered the room and handed over the tools to Francis.

Francis opened up the cell-phone and discarded the camera. He disconnected the camera from the screen and reattached it to the phone electronics. He made sure everything was back in place and re-sealed the phone. He turned it back on and started working with it. At a certain point the images coming through the camera lense, appeared on the big screen, thanks to the beamer. Every member of Team Delta saw himself or herself on the screen.

'Screw Apple and their 8 megapixel camera. Say hello to the Cherubphone. Internet access, and a 20 megapixel camera,' joked Francis.

'That is amazing,' said Sage. 'I had heard about those skills of yours, but could really imagine them being true.'

'Its the only thing I can do. Technical and computer stuff,' said Francis grinning.

After that class the team walked over to the shooting range. Paul didn't get any lunch.

**Day 39 **

'Dear cadets. Can someone tell me the purpose of school?' asked Rover.

The team was sitting on their knees in the pouring rain, with nothing more than their shirts and trousers on. They were already soaking wet.

'We are supposed to learn at school,' replied Paul.

'Very good Puppy,' shrieked Rover. 'Then why are you failing math?'

'Because I'm not good at it ma'am.'

'Wrong answer. Forty push-ups Puppy. Cadet Cain isn't failing any of her classes, neither is cadet Gray. I can not imagine that they're good at everything, everyone has a weakness, I could know,' she added smiling. 'Keep those hands on your head Porter! Maybe you can tell me why you're failing Chinese?'

'Too hard,' replied Francis.

'Wrong answer again. Thirty push-ups. Cadet Cain, care to answer the question? Oh wait, I forgot. Cadet Swift why are you failing history and Russian?'

'Because I haven't been studying properly ma'am.'

'Ah, right answer. Only ten push-ups for you. Other Porter, care to elaborate why you were caught cheating at the test this morning?'

'I thought I could get away with it, thought wrong.'

'Thirty , Gray and Swift inside. Porters and Puppy three course runs, you've got one hour, if you're late, no diner.'

The team split up.

'Are you almost done hacking?' asked Paul to Francis.

'I finished up after breakfast, I'm in. I connected with my laptop, so it'll be easier. Phase two can start. The compound is used the next month on a daily basis. So it'll have to be done after that.'

'We'll just have to hide everything until the day.'

The three started running faster while the rain kept pouring down.

**Day 52**

'I thought they'd quit sooner,' said Charlotte while watching the Delta's completing the second course of that morning.

'Got any money in the betting pool?' asked George. 'On you feet Cain!'

Julia gave him the finger and continued, the mud running from her trousers.

'Five on Julia as the first to crack, five on day 25 first quit and five on day 84 all quit.'

'Ain't that cheating?'

'Says the man who has a bet on day 75 they all quit.'

'Touché. Heard the news on the pool?

'Yeah. Kerry placed a bet on succeeding. Her loss.'

'There's more. Apparently Zara placed a bet.'

'No way! Winters get you ass off the ground! Thats bull.'

'I heard she placed one on 99 all quit and Paul first.'

'I'm telling you thats bull. Come on, lets get them inside its freezing they have to keep going until the 84th that is.'

'Yeah lets keep em alive until our days are due.'

**Day 59**

'What do you mean there's a betting pool on our BT?' asked John while eating a spoonful of rice.

'I was browsing the network when I came across a message that mentioned a betting pool on our BT. After some searching I found an excel-sheet. Apparently their is a main bet, on the day where everyone quits, a bet on first one to quit and then the day the first one quits.'

'That's so sickening,' said Chloë.

'Got something more?' asked Mia a bit sheepishly.

'Everybody wanna hear this?' All nodded. ' Our two assistants have placed bets on days 84 and 75. Kerry placed a bet on day 100. The one who is most likely to crack as first is Paul. And then we have Zara's bet.'

'Say what!? No way!'

'Zara placed two bets: on day 99.' He paused. 'And Paul as the first to crack.'

'Thank god,' said Paul.

'You're glad?' asked Chloë. The others were as shocked.

'Sure. Now I can gloat when I see her face when I'm wearing my grey shirt.' Paul finished up his meal and walked outside.

**Day 75**

Chloë heaved. The remains of the diner slowly spread over the assault course. John and Paul followed soon after.

'Did I tell you could stop!' yelled Charlotte. She stared at the three. 'Keep moving!'

Nine people were awake in the middle of the night. Six of them were running the assault course, while occasionally gasping for air or heaving up the last bits of food that was still in their stomachs.

The three joined the others who were standing at the beginning.

Lt. Rover watched them as they tried to keep standing. They had been running for almost three hours now. She and her assistants had been awakened by the alarm that had gone off. They had found the Delta's next to the gate and wall. They had obviously tried to escape unnoticed.

'Once again we have arrived at a milestone. 75 days of intense training have passed. You have endured this for so long. Nineteen days more and most of you break their personal record. Now we only have 25 days left. Twenty-five days of pure hell. Twenty-five days that you could spend lying in a comfortable bed, eating properly, taking long showers or baths. Anyone want to leave? It's okay. Theres no shame in admitting defeat. Is there someone who wants to quit?'

The Delta's stared at each other. They all saw the exhausted, pleading looks. They stood up straight.

'No ma'am,' they all responded.

'Then let us continue. Two more laps until wake up call. A brand new day awaits.'

**Day 96**

'Something's different about them,' said Rover. 'Last time they were almost petrified when someone talked to them. Now they're almost relaxed.'

'They are quite the team,' said Charlotte. 'Looks like they're going to make it. I honestly never thought they would come this far.'

The Delta's were building a camp in the woods. Like a well oiled machine they completed every little task that contributed to the greater goal. After only forty minutes they had made a camp and a fire.

'They're supposed to be the best team, as they aren't going to do any solo missions. Its the sole reason they are still here,' said George.

'Now cadets, break up that camp and join us back at base,' said Rover.

'There is something that we have to discuss,' she continued while walking back with her assistants.

The three instructors walked into the office. Rover asked them to take a seat while she sat herself in the big chair. There was a file on her desk.

'What I am going to show and tell you is strictly for your eyes and ears only. Afterwards you have to honestly tell me if you wish to continue with it.'

Charlotte and George looked a bit puzzled at each other. They nodded.

Rover opened the file. She took out two pieces of paper. She handed one to each of her assistants. She took another piece of paper and closed the file.

'What we have here is a violation of the agent-psychologist- confidentiality-rule. These are excerpts of the sessions done before the start of BT. They're the answers for every Delta to the question: What is your greatest fear?'

'Why are you showing us this?'

'If you look closely these aren't the most bizarre things to fear. Certainly not when you are a secret agent that is deployed all over the globe. Now, I have my orders to confront these cadets with these fears. I was asked to ask you if you wanted to participate in doing this. I have no idea how they are going to react to this, but if they want to succeed and become agents, they have to pass this test. This test will be done on day 99. THis means that we aren't going abroad. I know that this is not the easiest question, but are you willing to cooperate with this assignment? I don't need an immediate answer.'

'No. You can ask me to make cadets jump over obstacles, make em do push-ups and force them to eat cereals without proper cutlery, but this is one step too far,' said George. 'I am not doing this.'

'Thats fine,' said Rover.

George gave her back the piece of paper and walked out.

Charlotte stared at Rover and at the fears. 'I'll do it.'

Rover thanked Charlotte before she left. She didn't see the tears that started to form within Charlotte's eyes.

**Day 98**

'Hey, wake up,' said Charlotte. She grabbed Paul's shoulder.

'What's up?'

'Nothing, just wanting to wish you good luck for tomorrow.'

'Okay, thanks,' murmured Paul before drifting back to sleep.

'I'm sorry,' whispered Charlotte before retreating back to her own bed.

**Authors Note: This is part one of the Basic Training Trilogy a I like to call it.**


	7. Fears

**Disclaimer: I do not own any CHERUB characters or anything out of the CHERUB world created and written about by Robert Muchamore. All rights to these characters and places belong to Muchamore.**

Day 99 had finally arrived. The Delta's were awakened in the usual way of Rover screaming at the top of her lungs. They got dressed and walked outside towards the course. Afterwards they came back for breakfast. It was Charlotte who brought them their cereals and milk. Paul ate his cereals in the usual way and drank the milk. After a while he started feeling woozy. One after another he saw his teammates fall asleep until it went completely dark.

_"What is your greatest fear?"_

_"Being blinded or deafened."_

Julia opened her eyes and everything stayed black. Not another sound. Julia started to breath in out. She tried to move but she couldn't. Restraints held her back. A first wave of panic came to her. She opened her mouth and screamed, something she hadn't done for ages. Not a single sound reached her ears.

'What is going on?' that same voice shrieked.

Charlotte was looking at the monitors that were set up in the office. The mouth of Julia opened up. The speaker transmitted the high-pitch noise. She turned off the sound.

Julia struggled against whatever was holding her but nothing helped. The first tears started flowing as the voice inside her said: "Delta is the toughest, Its only a test."

_"If you had to describe your greatest fear?"_

_"Not being able to help my friends and family when I'm needed."_

'Its only another test,' said Chloë while staring at a black monitor. She looked at the room. A white room with a concrete floor. 'This nothing more than the latest test to fuck us up. Do you hear me you bitch, I'll never surrender to you!' she screamed at the camera which was standing in front of her.

The monitor switched on. What she saw made her eyes grow big. Her little brother walking towards the door and trying to open it. It didn't open. He banged against the door. No response. He kicking and banging on the door. He stopped and dropped to the floor. His facial expression said it all.

'You sick twisted fuck! I'll rip out your heart if I get the chance! You're dead! You hear me, dead!' Tears started flowing.

Francis clasped his knees and whispered. 'Chloë will come. Its nothing but the next test. I am the toughest one. Chloë will come. Chloë will come. Please someone, help me. It's nothing but the latest test.'

_"What's your greatest fear Francis?"_

_"Being all alone."_

_"Greatest fear?"_

_"Being restrained."_

The ropes around her waist and wrists started to burn and itch. Sweat was forming under the leather strap that held her head firmly against the headpiece of the chair. Her feet were taped to the legs of the chair with some duct tape. Mia yelled for help but no one entered through the door.

'Nothing more than a test. You had to go all this way to get us to quit BT? Pathetic little bitch,' smirked Mia at the camera. 'We are Delta, Delta is the toughest. So fuck you.'

Charlotte had noticed the raise in her tone of voice. Charlotte looked the next monitor. The countdown got to zero. The night vision camera showed her John who was slowly walking alongside the walls feeling with both hands. He almost reached the door. The light inside the room switched on and off.

_"Could you please describe your greatest fear?"_

_"Complete darkness, not the night, but pitch black darkness."_

'Thank God, it only darkness, I'm not blind. It's only a limited space filled with darkness. A test. Its limited. Only a couple of hours at most. No biggie. Delta is the toughest.'

John sat down and started talking about chemistry. The sound of his own voice and the thought of the chemicals that could create a fire and light, kept the fear a bay for now.

_"What is your greatest fear Paul?"_

_"Dogs, definitely dogs."_

Paul froze up. He was backed up against the wall, with nothing more than his pants to cover him. He slowly sat himself down and tried not to look at the two german shepherds that were sitting across the room. Paul instead focused on the camera and speaker. In his mind the same phrase repeated over and over.

'Good Morning, Paul. This is one of the final tests for your BT,' said the voice of Lt. Rover through the speaker. 'It consists of spending the next three hours in this room with the two nice dogs, without calling for assistance. Your teammates are receiving similar tests.'

'Fuck you bitch. If can handle looking at you face for 98 days, I can easily conquer this challenge,' boasted Paul.

'And there we go. Up! Loose!'

The two dogs started walking around the room sniffing and looking around. The first one noticed Paul and walked over. Slowly he started sniffing at Paul. Paul tensed up and the dog must have caught the vibe as it barked and the second one came over. With two noses moving all around Paul closed his eyes and started thinking about something else. Then the image came back. The sight of his father with the torn up face. Blood flowing freely. Then the feeling of the dog sniffing and drooling all over the place. The tongue that licked off the blood that was dripping on his arm. Paul shrugged of the image and mentally started closing down. Out came the tongues. They licked every bit of skin. Claws were sliding into his toes and feet. Saliva dripped on his shoulder. The pressure in his mind went sky-high. Paul clenched his teeth as his inner voice screamed for help. A pool of warm liquid formed underneath Paul. Then slowly things went black.

Kerry rushed to the barracks. From a distance she could see the security people standing in front of the gate. In the court there was a van, that had the engine running. As soon as she had set foot on the premises, a bleeding dog was carried out with a second one limping out of the room. Kerry dashed in and saw her cadets sitting there silently, staring into nothing except Paul who wasn't in the room. The Porter sibling were holding each other. John was murmuring gibberish. Mia was constantly flexing her fingers and curling her toes. Julia gently rocked back and forth while constantly making a little noise with her fingers by tapping on the metal frame.

Kerry walked over and crouched. Julia locked on and started crying. She flung her arms around Kerry's neck.

'What happened?' she asked while comforting the girl.

'I couldn't see or hear anything anymore,' sobbed the girl as Kerry gently pushed her back onto the bed.

'What are you talking about?' said Kerry, without realising that she had spoken.

'They made me sit in complete darkness for three whole hours,' growled John.

'She taped me to a chair and left me alone,' said Mia without any emotion.

'I was all alone in that room.'

'She forced me to watch Francis and the rest,' said Chloë almost crying.

'Oh God,' gasped Kerry. 'Where's Paul?'

'There,' said John while pointing at the shower room.

Kerry stood up and walked over to the showers. She heard some groaning and the noise of running water. She barged in. A bloody hand print was smudged out on the tiled wall. Swearing. A horrid smell crept in her nose. She walked over to the booth that was behind a small wall. There she saw the trousers which were the source of the pungent odor. They were soiled and wet.

'Paul?'

He opened the curtain and showed her his dogtags. They were spotless.

'Are they clean?' asked the naked boy.

She stared at him as the traces of dogblood and excrements flowed into the hole. She nodded. Paul gave her the tags and started scrubbing himself roughly and hard.

'Paul stop it. You're hurting yourself,' she said while depositing the tags on the edge of a sink.

'I can't, I'm dirty. I feel dirty. It won't go away.'

'Paul, I'm ordering you to stop scrubbing yourself now!'

Paul looked at her and dropped the soap. He stepped out of the shower, when Kerry grabbed and hugged him.

'I couldn't control it,' said Paul while sobbing. 'I soiled myself like a bloody baby. I'm sorry I bit that dog but she left me no choice. I couldn't help it. I had to let go.'

'It's okay Bear. I'll get you cleaned up. Just wait in the shower and let some hot water run over you, but no scrubbing okay? You're almost clean now.'

'Okay,' replied Paul while stepping back into the shower.

Kerry went to look for a bucket and filled it up in a shower while she barged out of the shower room. Her five other agents were still sitting there, although nothing strange was happening. She immediately asked one of the guards for his tactical knife, grabbed Francis ear flap cap, Johns lighter, Chloës Sempai belt and looked for Julia's stuffed pink dragon, but couldn't find it. She then proceeded. She handed over the tactical knife to Mia, placed and secured the cap to Francis head, gave John his lighter and Chloë her belt. Kerry then marched towards the office. There was a crowd gathering. She entered.

'Ah there you are Kerry,' said Rover.

Kerry gave her a nasty look while staring at Charlotte who looked a bit uneasy. Zara and John Jones were also there but said nothing.

'Charlotte, do you know where Julia's pink stuffed dragon is?'

'Yeah its right over here.'

'Good. I'll give you two minutes to give her that animal. I'm going to clean up Paul, as apparently nobody felt the urge to get someone over to help them out. Then I'm coming back just to cause a bloody scene. Consider yourselves warned.'

Kerry walked back out of the office and went back to the showers. She took a look at her team. They all looked a bit more relaxed. Julia looked a bit puzzled.

'Charlotte will bring Tony over in a minute honey,' said Kerry while grabbed some spare towels.

'Oh that's the nice girl who tried to comfort us. She said she was sorry,' answered Jules.

'That's nice, I'll be gone for just a minute. I have to go help Bear.'

'See you later.'

Kerry hurried to the shower room. She lifted the heavy bucket to Paul's booth.

'Paul, you ready?'

'Yes.'

He opened up the curtain and just stood there.

'Please turn around and hand me the showerhead.'

Paul did as asked. Next he felt the big splash of warm water. It ran from his back all the way down his legs.

'Turn.'

Another splash. Kerry hosed off the last traces of the blood and turned of the shower. She wrapped up Paul in the towels and helped him getting himself dried off. She took him back to the others and gave him a fresh pair of pants and trousers. As a final thing she hung the tags around his neck. Charlotte sat next to Julia who was clasping the dragon with both hands.

'If you all want to excuse me.'

'She totally gonna go boom,' said John. The rest giggled. Charlotte even smiled.

Kerry marched towards the office. She entered and smacked the door closed.

'First of all, I'm seriously having a hard time not going all mad. Secondly: How could you do this to them! Are you completely insane!?'

'Kerry, please calm down,' said John.

'Fuck off John. Have you seen them? They're pretty much mentally wrecked! For Gods sake, Paul pissed and shat himself! He's a grown kid, not a bloody infant. Julia was talking to me! I've never heard her talk, what have you done do them to make them go all this way? Tortured them!? You can consider yourselves lucky that you don't have any deaths on our hands. You know what Chloë can do, she could've easily snapped and killed someone. My team could've killed themselves! This wasn't a test, this was torture.'

'Kerry, please take a breath and take a seat,' said Zara calmly. She stared right at her.

Kerry took a seat next to Zara and awaited some answers.

'Yes. This assignment wasn't the greatest success, but it had to be done. I know we asked a lot from them. And they'll get every bit of help that they need.'

'That means nothing.'

'Actually it means a lot. They have proven to be able to keep their cool to a certain degree. We had them confronted with their greatest fears. Besides the initial stress moment, not a single one called for help. They never gave up. We would have freed them if they had asked for it.'

'Are you telling me they actually wanted to do it?' asked Kerry seriously surprised.

'Apparently they know something we don't. Team Delta seems pretty confident to continue.'

'Then lets ask them,' said Kerry while standing up.

The adults left the office and walked over to the team.

'Team Delta, we have a question for all of you,' said Zara.

'Speak,' commanded Paul.

'Are you willing to continue? Do you all wish to participate in the last test?'

'If you tell us what it is, we might consider it,' said Mia.

'As a team you'll be dropped in the Compound. The only thing you have to do is do not get shot for a period of four hours. Your opponents will be 24 black and navy shirts, both current as ex.'

'Do we get any weapons?'

'No. This is a test in the art of hiding and sneaking. The only thing you'll get are the latest versions of our protective gear and a private line to talk with each other.'

'Thats it?'

Zara nodded.

'Guys?' asked Paul.

'I go where you go, boss,' said John.

'Dito,' said the Porter siblings

Julia nodded.

'Lets get those damned shirts.'

'There's your answer. We'll do it.'

**Authors note: Yeah these chapters were a bit rushed, just had to get them out of my system. But it gives me time to write and rewrite the last part of BT called: Full Metal Bear. Damn this is going to be so much fun to write :) (Cameos planned, as well as a lot of action and revenge).**


	8. Full Metal Bear

**8. Full Metal Bear**

'Rise and shine, Delta,' said Charlotte through a megaphone.

'Do we have to?' asked John yawning.

'If you want to succeed in completing day 100, the training and getting a grey shirt, yes,' said George.

The six Delta's got up and stood in front of their beds.

'Now, to the showers. Ten minutes,' barked Charlotte.

The six complied and sloughed towards the shower room that had been cleaned off with a high pressure washer, but there was still a faint smell.

'Get those feet of the floor people, only eight minutes left,' yelled George.

'And there I was thinking they would go easy on us,' said Paul.

'Never man, but later will be a blast,' said John with a wicked grin.

Freshly cleaned and dressed in the usual uniform, the members of team Delta sat at the table awaiting their last breakfast. A surprise entered the room in the form of Kerry who was carrying a load of food. She walked over with a faint smile.

'Good Morning,' she said while she started distributing the contents of her bag. 'So as it is your last day, I wanted to give you a little encouragement before you go to the Compound.'

'When are we going?' asked Francis while he passed some juice boxes.

'At five, at six the test begins and will last until ten pm. Okay, I have got some goats cheese for Paul, bacon for John and Francis. Some M&M's and peach marmalade for Mia, a banana and orange for Jules and chocolate sprinkles for Chloë. Thank god I have a schedule for each day of the week, you bloody autists,' said Kerry with a smile.

'We love you too,' said Chloë when she saw the looks on Francis' and Jules' faces. 'It was meant ironically little brother.'

'Nevermind.' Kerry stared at her boys and girls eating in almost complete silence. At least they learned that in BT, she thought.

'Is James going to be here?' asked Mia.

'Who's that?' asked Paul while biting off a piece of bread.

'Yes, he will be there tonight,' said Kerry. 'James is an ex-Cherub agent who I know from when I was an agent. And we're still dating.'

'Oooh,' said Paul with a high voice. 'So later we'll see you two smooching all the time?'

'I'm not going to discuss that with you people,' said Kerry a bit shocked. 'Just eat your breakfast cadet Winters, you're going to need it.'

'Aye aye ma'am.'

'See you later guys, I'll be watching.'

'Bye,' said Jules in sign.

The day almost flew by. At four pm, Team Delta was sitting around the table in their barracks.

'Damn,' said Paul. 'Four months ago I was a kid who lived in the streets of London. Now I'm on the verge of becoming a full blood agent of a secret organization.'

'Yeah,' said John. 'I can relate. We can relate.'

'The only thing that stands between us and victory are 24 top class ex-Cherubs. And then we've got the Zara-issue. Don't you guys find it weird that they go all this way in BT? Even Rover didn't go that far last time,' said Mia.

'I just can't imagine Zara not wanting us to become agents. Why did they bring us here if they never wanted us to do any missions?'

'I'm only here 'cause my parents were Cherubs,' said Paul.

The others looked at him with shock. 'What!? You never told us that, Grizzly.'

'I don't know much, but it's not that important. They were black shirts and did several missions.'

'Oh. Okay. So we stick to the plan for tonight?'

'Any developments in the Compound Francis?'

'None. No news about finding a load of gear. So we are still good to go.'

'We are Delta, we are the toughest,' said John.

The others nodded in agreement.

The ride till the Compound only took twenty minutes by minivan. They all got out and marched towards the entrance of the Compound. Kerry and Zara were already waiting outside.

'You guys ready?' asked the first.

They nodded.

Zara opened the door. Immediately noise reached out. They walked past a room where a lot of people were gathered. Those people stopped talking and threw them some looks. John and Paul reacted by giving them the finger with a smile. The team continued until they had arrived at a small changing room where the protective gear had been placed for them.

The latest generation of protection consisted of tight-fitting clothes that were reinforced with bulletproof material and some metal plates. These included a long sleeved shirt and legging. On top of that the team got dressed in gloves in the same material, a helmet and goggles and boots.

'So no more bulky vests?' asked Chloë.

'These are prototypes that have been tested. They can withstand the impact of a grenade. We only have these to see if it works out. And this test was the best opportunity,' said Zara.

'Bulletproof vests?' asked Paul. 'Are they using live ammunition?'

'Not real bullets, but paint bullets that feel like the real deal, also in painlevel,' said Zara.

'Nice,' said Paul.

'Now put in your radio's,' said Kerry as she distributed the earpieces and mics.

'Test one two this is Bear,' said Paul, 'Do you receive?'

'Roger,' answered the others.

They all placed them under their helmets.

'We are ready,' said Mia.

'One more thing,' said Kerry. She handed each of them a small backpack with a bottle of water, cafeïne pills and a energy bar.

The six marched out and walked into the terrain. There the twenty four agents were waiting. They all had geared up with the bulky vests and M4 carbines. The team felt the eyes burning.

'So to the challengers, this is Team Delta. To the Delta's these people are the 24 agents who have the task in stopping you.'

Paul looked at some faces and saw several people who could easily be siblings. That was definitely the case for the two guys who almost looked identical. He also saw Jason and George among the people who hadn't put their helmets on yet. Maybe Charlotte was in the crowd too.

'Team Delta gets a head start of fifteen minutes. Good luck to all.'

Team Delta started running off in different directions. All as planned. After the given time a signal was sent out.

'The game has begun,' said Paul into his mic.

Kerry was looking at the monitors that showed images of the Compound. She saw several small groups of three or four walking in the streets. She recognised the numbers 12, 5 and 6. James, Connor and Callum. They were walking towards the wreckage of a burned out car. Half an hour had passed since the beginning of the hunt.

"Team 2, all clear," said James trough the speaker.

"Team Delta,' said Paul. 'You all remember how I told you that we would get our revenge when BT was over?'

Affermative answers.

'Forget what I said. Lets do it now. Gear up and kick Cherub ass!'

The sound of a bolt being retracted echoed through the control room. The first shot was a hit, as Connor fell down. Apparently he got hit in the knee.

'5 for Controlroom, what was that? I thought they had not weapons?' said Connor between gasps.

Zara grabbed the mic. 'What is the meaning of this cadet Winters?'

'Francis put us up on every channel. Delta keep low. I can't really see your faces right now, but I can imagine some surprised looks. ' He chuckled. 'Zara, this is our little payback for day number 99. Maybe for our entire BT as we heard some rumours. We heard some talk about... Mia how to say this exactly?'

'"They aren't agent material. They weren't and aren't supposed to succeed BT. They'll never go beyond the blue shirt." Courtesy to our friend Mr. Jacobson.

'At first you go: "Nah, thats bull. Zara, Kerry and Rose won't talk that shit." Then we get the betting pool. Not a single word by any staff member, but a bet by the head of Cherub on day 99 with me as the first to crack. Day 99 and the so called test, made me rethink things. But the final blow came when I was standing under the shower washing of the dogblood out of my mouth and rising off my own shit. This is my vendetta. Here are some changes in the rules: we still try to keep ourselves untouched, but every opponent we take out has to leave the field.'

Everything went silent. The control room was filled with despair.

'How?' asked John Jones. 'How have you brought in that weapon?'

Francis cleared his throat. 'Team Delta is a crew of six. Each person has a particular set of skills. Mine is hacking and technical handywork. Julia's is the ability of pickpocketing, lockpicking and sneaking around. But let me explain our plan. First of all, we managed to smuggle in a smartphone from the espionage class into the barracks. With nothing more than that and my laptop I hacked into the entire network. And I truly mean the éntire network. We just walked out the barracks and collected our gear, borrowed some bikes, drove up, broke in, hid our gear, left and got caught by the instructors. Deliberately off course. That's about it. Oh yeah, we've known about this test from the beginning.'

'Zara,' said Lauren Adams.'I was told to participate against some rookie types. These guys seems to be top notch.'

Zara sighed. 'I wanted to wait with this news until after Basic Training, but yes you six aren't agent material.'

'Thats bloody bullshit!' screamed the Porters.

'You aren't regular agent material,' continued Zara. 'The sole purpose of Team Delta is exactly what the name says. A team. A team of skilled agents, who will only do missions as a team. Yes, the six of you aren't cut out to be solo-agents, but as a team you can overcome every test. Your escapade and day 99 only confirm this. The six of you are Team Delta, the first mission team.'

'This was all Grizzly's plan,' said Mia. 'He got us all fired up.'

'We concur,' said the Porters and John.

'Hey. Fuck, I feel so stupid now.'

'I'm sorry I've kept you out of the loop. You too Kerry,' said Zara while sitting down.

'What happens now?' asked James through the speakers.

'Nothing happens,' said Kerry. 'This test keeps going. The twenty four of you keep hunting down those little rats. The six of you still have to be shotless for another three hours and twenty minutes. On top of that: the six of you have your allowances revoked for two months, you'll run one hundred laps each and you'll apologize to Zara in person when this BT is over and you have some grey shirts. If you succeed, that is. Now lets continue. Oh yeah: Bear for every swear word on Delta's behalf you run two laps on top of that.'

'With their rules?'

Kerry looked at Zara. She nodded. 'Lets do that. I'll be a good practise round.'

'Roger that. Time for some ass kicking.'

Paul stared through the scope of his AMW and saw the number 23 standing next to a broken window. He turned around and asked Francis: 'Who is 23?'

'23 is Dana Smith. Some badass type. LOTR fan.'

'To bad, I kinda like Rings fans.' He took another look through the scope. Dana had vanished.

'Damn, she's gone.'

'Plenty of other targets to shoot at,' said Francis from across the room.

'Number 15 is out, got my ass kicked with my own gun. That chick is a goddamn machine,' someone said trough the radio.

'Twenty three targets left.'

Mia and Chloë were crouching against a wall. In the shadows they were almost invisible. Chlöe had changed her boots in a pair of light shoes. She had also placed some metal reinforcements on her gloves. Mia had fastened her bokken on her back inside a holder. Two knives rested in scabbards attached around her thighs. The knives had been modified with small brushes to only paint a line with the blade.

In this phase they had been paired up to immobilize as many agents as possible. The girls knew that Francis and Bear and Jules and John, would be laying low, with John only controlling his bombs and boobytraps and Bear taking out some targets with the sniper rifle. A shot echoed.

'Number 4 is out, bullet in the chest,' said a female voice through the radio.

'Thats twenty two left,' said John in the mics.

Mia tapped Chloë on the arm and motioned towards the door. Footsteps were coming closer.

'Lets check this room,' said a male voice.

'I'll go first, Connor,' said Callum. 'James is busy on the other side.'

Callum entered moving slowly, he turned around only to find an empty space. His flashlight illuminated the room. A shadow flashed in front of him. Connor came in, a mistake.

Before the two brothers could respond, the girls jumped out of the shadows. With a quick spin kick against the head, Chloë knocked out Callum. Mia smacked her bokken against Connor's hands. He released his gun. She advanced and slit his throat with her knife. A fine green line was drawn on his throat. Chloë held the carbine against Callum's head.

'Surrender or face pain,' she whispered.

'Number 5 and 6 out. Got our asses kicked,' said Callum.

Mia and Chloë stole their carbines and ammo, before disappearing back into the shadows.

'Twenty left,' said Francis triumphantly.

John kept his eyes locked on the doorway. He heard several footsteps coming closer. In his hands he clasped the detonators.

'Francis, how many are coming our way? Building 8, upper floor.'

'You've got six coming up. All armed ex-agents and Jason.'

'Jules, lets get ready,' said John to his partner.

Jules nodded from across the room. She had acquired her own carbine. Next to her she had the shotgun that John had taken with him.

The group passed the first marker. John pressed on the switch. A small explosion occurred.

'Francis?'

'Two down four coming up marker two and three, blow the shit away. Now.'

The second explosion rumbled through the air.

Francis stared at his screen. The small cams have him the clear image of three agents being thrown down, covered in green paint. Jason kept advancing.

'Five down, Jason coming up. Take cover.'

Jason dashed into the room and looked straight at John. 'Ha. You lose.'

'Think again,' said Jules. 'Say hello to my little friend.'

The shotgun shell threw Jason off his feet. With a loud groan he landed on the floor.

'Thats six down, fourteen to go,' said John while thanking his partner in sign.

They grabbed the ammo and quickly went to the second safepoint.

Kerry looked at the stats. With an hour to go, Team Delta was able to take out sixteen agents. Only James, Lauren, Dana, George, Rat, Charlotte, Dave and Kyle were left. She had heard them regroup in two teams of four as they had deduced that Delta had split up in duo's. Kerry smiled. Her team already had proven themselves. Numbers meant nothing as long as a plan was in play. On top was John with 5 kills, four for Paul, three for Mia and two for Julia and Chloë.

'Whats the score?' asked Mia.

'Six - eight,' said Paul smugishly. 'Wait, make that seven.' A shot was fired. It was a hit.

'Number 2 is out,' said Charlotte.

'That leaves us with number 12, 11, 16, 9, 22, 10 and 14,' said Chloë.

'Who are these kids? They can remember that?' asked Rat. 'Even I can't do that.'

'That's nothing,' said Kerry. 'I think the real team will come out now.'

'You heard the lady,' said Paul. 'Francis open up every channel. Dear opponents. This is Bear speaking. The guy with the sniper rifle. Just to give you a taste: you are, in order: James and Lauren Adams. The notorious Adams family.'

'Very original,' sneered Lauren.

'The Gooners fan and bloody vegetable freak. Thanks to you I'm forced to eat a vegetarian meal each week.'

'One hundred and twenty laps, Bear.'

'Next up are: Dana Smith, the LOTR fan. Nope no remarks on that. Our first instructor George Tamer, the one who didn't participate in day 99, Rathbone "Rat" Regan: the son of some crazy religious fucker. A real smartass, Charlotte Tops: our second instructor, a nice girl who has the last name of Harry Potter character, David Moss, the model agent: good-looking ass and last but not least:Kyle Blueman: the famous movie seller, no match for our Chloë speaking of martial arts that is.'

'Twenty-six,' said Kerry.

'Nobody insults Arsenal without any punishment,' barked James.

'Ooh we're so scared, Mister Gooner,' said Francis.

'Don't get so worked up James, it's a diversion,' said Rat.

'This guy is the next on the hitlist guys,' said Paul 'First one to get him off the field gets a free Bible. You'll know that book that I don't read, with that Jezus guy.'

'That's it, this Team is going down,' yelled Rat. 'This is the plan. We block every road towards the exit. They have to fight us if they want to get these shirts.'

'Always a blast, with Rat playing hardball,' said Mia.

'Aargh, my name is Greg!'

'Yada yada, eat this.'

A sound came across the mics. A scream and some panting. Another yell.

'Now, surrender or I snap off your arm little twat,' said Chloë.

'I surrender, number 22 is out.'

'Team B, get back to Rat, she might still be there,' said James.

'Negative, we were standing almost besides him, she's gone.'

'God! I hate this assignment!'

'I hate your ugly face,' said Paul with a chuckle. 'But you don't hear me yelling this on the channel.'

Kerry looked at the clock. Only fifteen minutes left.

'Team Delta, only fifteen minutes left until the door opens,' said Kerry.

'Roger. Team Delta in position,' said John.

'I'll cover,' said Paul while retracting the bolt.

Paul nodded at Francis who grabbed his laptop and placed it in his pack. Francis left to meet up with the rest. Paul took deep breath and looked through his scope. He saw the remaining eight agents taking up their positions in the main street leading up to the exit. They all aimed their guns towards the building he was in. He on the upper floor, the rest downstairs.

'Dana, you figured it out right?' he asked in his mic.

'Yeah. You're the carer for this team. The one who provides cover fire while they make a dash towards the exit.'

'Shit. Pretty good, but fuck, we're screwed.'

'You've had a great run Delta,' said Zara. 'You've proven to be legitimate agents. Just give up and come and get your shirts.'

'Can't do that,' said Paul. 'John, light up the fucking night sky.'

'Aye aye cap. Lucifers fire will burn down the stars.'

An enormous blast rumbled over the Compound. The main street was on fire. Black smoke filled up the heaven.

'Delta's GO!' screamed Paul.

'Take'em out. Its a sniper rifle, he needs the reload after each shot,' said Dave.

'That's correct, but I can do better,' said Paul.

Paul retracted the bolt with his right hand but fired the gun with his left hand. Through his scope, Paul saw Lauren taking aim. He pulled the trigger and hit her right between the breasts. Next up was Kyle. With a quick headshot he was knocked out. The Delta's dashed towards the exit. Smoke started filling up the compound. Paul shot down Dave with a double tap in the knee and chest.

'Bear, go, the way is clear,' said Mia. 'They've cleared.'

'Alright, I coming home,' said Paul. He left the rifle and ran downstairs. The smoke cut off his vision. He was unable to see the exit. He started sprinting towards the exit, just going straight ahead. He vanished in the smoke.

The rest of Delta kept running. The door was opened. The light was bright. They were almost there, when Mia heard a couple of rifles being armed. She and the rest stopped and turned around. James and Dana were standing before them with their rifles aimed at them.

'Game over,' said Dana smiling.

'Fuck that,' said a familiar voice. Paul came jumping out of the smoke. He had somersaulted over the two ex-agents and stood between them and his team. He smiled at the agents. In that fraction of a second a round of bullets were fired. Twelve shots hit Paul straight in the chest. The rest of Delta's froze.

'Keep going,' growled Paul, 'Get that shirt, that is an order. Go!'

Slowly the team started moving towards the exit. A shot was fired. Mia turned around. George was hit in the stomach. Paul had taken out two guns and had fired a single round at George. He fell down right in front off Team Delta.

'Go,' moaned Paul. 'You're agents.'

His team disappeared into the light.

'We win,' said James.

'No fucking way,' smiled Paul. He raised the guns and pointed them at the two. ' This is tough Cherubs are tougher, Team Delta is the toughest. We win.' He squeezed the triggers. Another round of bullets struck him. Exhausted he fell to his knees.

'Paul!,' yelled Kerry when coming out. 'You've made it! You're an agent.'

'How much did I win?' He collapsed.

The Bear had fallen.

**Authors Note:This is the last chapter for a while. I have to stop writing this fanfic in order to focus on school. It will take a least until Mid July for another chapter. Yes, its long I know, but please Bear with me (get it?). Keep on reading and writing. Please R&R.**


	9. Clubs and Punishments

**Disclaimer: I do not own Cherub yada yada all right belong to Robert Muchamore.**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Clubs and Punishments.**

'There are no changes,' said Hannah. 'We'll notify you when he wakes up.'

'I know, but I don't want to leave them alone,' said Kerry while looking at the five agents who were fast asleep on some chairs and a couch that were placed in the waiting room of the medical centre. Mia opened one eye.

'Can we go in?' asked Mia half a sleep.

'He isn't awake yet,' said Kerry. Hannah nodded in agreement. 'Go back to sleep Mia, you're tired.'

Mia closed her eyes again and readjusted to John's arm that was lying on her shoulder.

'You could also use a couple of hours of sleep Kerry,' said Zara.

She thanked Hannah for the update and took a seat next to Kerry. Hannah left to check on some other patiënts.

'I never thought they would ever succeed in getting those grey shirts,' said Zara, 'Not after what happened last time. It's pretty amazing to have them ready for action.' She unfolded the sixth grey shirt.

'What they did was almost impossible. I mean, taking out 22 trained agents before losing any members, that's awesome.'

'I can only agree with that.'

'Director, Kerry, Paul has awakened and has asked for the both of you,' said Doc. Quincy.

Paul smiled when Kerry gently opened the door, only to be followed by Zara.

'Hi Bear, how it going?'

'Great considering I took twelve shots to the chest.' He coughed and a jab of pain hit him.

'Just some bruises and two fractured ribs,' said Zara with a little grin.

'The rest of the team made it right? They're agents right?'

'Please don't forget yourself,' said Zara while chucking the shirt on his bed.

'I don't get it? I got hit! Twelve times!'

'The limit had already been passed. And you took out the final two agents with headshots. You deserve this shirt, Grizzly,' said Kerry.

'I guess so,' he answered a bit dopey.

'I can see the morphine is kicking in,' said Kerry with a smile. 'I'll get the rest of the team.'

'Do you think my mom and dad would be proud?' asked Paul while looking at Zara.

'Yes. They would. You really are an amazing young man. And a good marksman.'

'Only good? No excellent?'

'That'll do for now, you still need some practice to become even better.'

The team silently entered the room. They all looked at him with triumphant looks. They gathered round his bed.

'Hi Paul,' said Mia.

'Hi Mia,' he replied.

They kissed.

'Ieeeuw make them stop,' said Francis and Jules almost at the same time. 'So gross.'

Chloë nudged her brother in the ribs.

'Hey am I floating?' asked Paul looking at John.

'Nah, that's the dope Grizzly,' he replied with a huge grin.

'Oh yeah that,' he answered chuckling. 'Oww that hurts.' His face went from smile to frown.

'Okay no laughing for Paul,' said Francis.

'You're not the boss of me,' he replied while taking off his hospital gown. 'Too hot in this room.'

For the first time the rest of the Team saw the tattoo. On the left-side of his torso, slightly on the side there was a drawing of a brown grizzly bear. The eyes full of rage, mouth opened so the teeth were visible. Semi-standing, the front paws and claws were nicely detailed. The black claws almost shined. The black linings made the drawing even more spectacular.

'That's so cool,' said Francis.

'What? Oh you mean the tattoo? I got it in some shop in London. Not the best place to do it,' said Paul smiling.

'Come guys lets go Paul needs his rest,' said Kerry motioning the agents towards the door.

'Wait! I need to say something. I guess we have to,' said Paul.

The others got the message and stopped, turned to Zara.

'We would like to apologize for our behaviour during the last day of Basic Training ma'am,' the six of them said in sync.

Zara and Kerry looked at them quite surprised. Zara smiled and said:

'Thank you, I accept your apologies,' said the chairwoman. 'Now let us leave agent Winters to rest.'

'Do I have to? I feel fine.'

'Yes you do,' said Kerry, 'Morphine or not, you still need to heal. We'll be back tomorrow. Now go to bed!'

'Yes ma'am.'

The next day Paul was enjoying his first decent meal in what seemed ages. Breakfast that consisted of some eggs and bacon, with a glass of orange juice. Enjoying every bite, he looked at the door, waiting for the others.

The door opened and in came Quincy and Hannah.

'So I see you're getting on pretty well,' said Hannah.

'Guess so,' Paul replied with a mouthful of eggs.

The door opened again and Kerry entered while she hushed the others who were standing in the hallway.

'Oh. I'm sorry,' she said sheepishly.

'No need to be,' said Doc. 'It's just the routine check up. You'll be out tomorrow.' The final part was for Paul.

Hannah donned some gloves and gently inspected the bruises that started to discolor. Most of them were still just blue spots but some were turning yellowish. Paul gritted his teeth and tried to keep a straight face. When Hannah touched the two broken ribs, Paul let out a short yelp.

'That's all good,' said Quincy. 'For the next two weeks, you mustn't strain yourself too much that means: no shooting any type of gun, no physical exercise that involves the torso or heavy breathing and finally: plenty of rest.'

'So that means no running laps too right?' Paul asked grinning viciously.

'Don't worry Paul, we've already found another punishment to replace that one,' answered Kerry with a same grinn. Chuckles could be heard from the hall. 'You still have to run one hundred laps Delta's.' Groans and moaning.

'What is it?'

'We have to have you tested again before we can determine that,' said Kerry. 'Yes you heard correctly. You, Paul Andrew Winters, are getting a new test. You haven't shown us your true abilities yet haven't you?'

'Guess I didn't,' answered Paul.

Not even 24 hours later, Paul was sitting in an empty classroom, awaiting his test. Gently tapping the table with his pencils he pondered about the test. A bloody pain in the butt, he thought.

'So this is the infamous marksman,' said the woman who entered with a bunch of paperwork. 'Hello Paul. My name is Meryl Spencer.'

'Could you please not talk to me as if I am a six year old? Just don't use that tone,' asked Paul as politely as possible. 'So you're the athletics coach who won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics. One of the best female sprinters on the planet. Impressive record.'

'I'll try,' said Meryl. 'You do know why you're here right?'

'To retake the entrance test and the basic intelligence test as well, right?'

'Those also but you'll have to take another test, you'll see. Now let's get started shall we?'

'If you say so.'

After an hour Paul finished the entire language section of the test. Questions in five languages: Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish. He guessed most of the Spanish parts. All the other languages were filled in almost 100% correctly as far as he knew. Next up was the science part. In this part of the test, Paul managed to fill in most of the questions. The final tests were the intelligence test and the mystery test. On the intelligence test, Paul easily filled in every complete-the-row-with-the-following-symbols-test and similar tests in less than forty minutes. At last he could start with the last one.

'Miss, what is the meaning of the last test?' asked Paul when he read the questions over and over again. They were something like this:

_- Am I prepared to get injured to save the lives of my team members?_

_- Who do you like the most your mom or dad?_

_- Am I afraid to die?_

_- Do I wish to die?_

'That is classified information,' said Meryl in a strict tone.

Paul finished the test and handed everything back to Meryl.

'Am I allowed to go now?'

'Sure. Your friends are waiting in the cafeteria.'

Paul dashed out and walked towards the place his friends and fellow team members were. He arrived at the cafeteria and walked in. Immediately the room went silent. Paul sloughed towards the buffet. Chicken with chips. He felt eyes watching his every move.

'God! What. The. Fuck. Is going on? Is there some alien growing out of my neck?' he asked.

Murmur rose from several tables.

'Is it true? That Team Delta defeated 24 agents?' asked someone in the back.

'I shot several of them in the head with clean shots, so yeah we kicked Cherub butt. me rephrase that. We annihilated them.'

'You got shot!' said a guy that was sitting close by. 'You failed the assignment.'

'Shut you fucking mouth! Don't. You. Dare.,' screamed Chloë while jumping up. 'Bear only got shot because he protected us! He has more sense of honor and friendship in his small toe than you have in your entire body.' She glared at the entire room. 'Never. Question. Him. Again. Anybody who does, has to deal with me. And that is something you do not want.'

'And us,' said Julia. 'You all know us right. Mentally unstable and all that.' Mia reinforced the idea by fooling around with two knives.

'What they said,' grinned Paul before walking over and bursting into laughter with the rest.

Kerry read and reread the results from Paul's tests. Zara sat on the opposite side of the desk. They were sitting in Kerry's office.

'Do you have any idea why he has been hiding this?' asked Kerry.

'No, but what I can see from the results is that Paul is one of the brightest people on campus. What scares me is that he's willing to give up his life for his friends if it ever should happen. From his answers it seems that Paul is not afraid to die.'

'He has one of the highest IQ's I've seen. He can read and write in four languages fluently, his Spanish seems only a little higher than the basic stuff. He understands sciences onto quite a high level, I certainly don't get half of those questions.'

'Surely you can figure out why,' said Zara with a smile.

'No I can't, just say it already.'

'Kerry, you are the handler of six agents with amazing skills. But they all have their flaws. Paul, Francis, John, Mia, Julia and Chloë...'

'They are semi autistic I get that. They're smart, they get the hang of things pretty fast...That's it! They get bored, or at least Paul does.'

'That too, but look a little closer,' said Zara. 'I can certainly remember your generation, Kerry. Like you never made fun of one of the 'nerdy' kids on campus?'

Kerry blushed a little. 'I can see where you are heading. You think he's been hiding it because he thinks he would get picked on.'

'It's only a theory, but I guess so,' said Zara.

'Okay, I'll talk to him about it. I wanted to see them all anyway. I'll break the news then.'

'What do you mean, me teaching red shirts French and Dutch three hours a week on both languages!?' exclaimed Paul while putting the money he won from the bet in a box with a four digit code.

'That is your punishment for the next two months,' said Kerry. 'You never told us you spoke four languages fluently and Spanish at a reasonable level. You're smart for crying out loud!'

The two of them were standing in Paul's room. The door was still open and Mia and Chloë came to see. They were his neighbours. A well as Francis, Jules and John, but on the other side of the hallway.

'Maybe I don't want to be smart! I wish I could just go for plain old dumb from time to time. Have you ever considered the fact that smart people are not always the most liked persons on the fucking planet? Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the bathroom.'

'Wait. I understand that...'

'No you don't,' growled Paul. 'You know jack shit of how I got bullied every day at school just because :"I am smart for crying out loud!" he added mimicking Kerry.

She took a step in his direction and glared at him furiously. 'I am this close at smacking you right now. Now sit your arse the fuck down before I make you, broken ribs or not.'

Paul backed up, visibly scared of the look on Kerry's face. He sat himself down and looked pleadingly at the two who were standing in the doorway.

'You two, get the others in here, we need to talk,' Kerry commanded the girls, who dashed off.

The five of them got into Paul's room and closed the door. They all took a seat on the bed or table.

'The five of you shall from now on join an extracurricular/after school club/activity right here on campus,' Kerry said, while giving each member a sheet of paper with five clubs on it. 'I want you to socialize with other people besides the team.'

'You can't make me,' said Jules in shock.

'I can and I will, Julia Cain,' Kerry replied sternly,'You will each find five clubs written on the sheet from which you can only choose two before trying them out. I also want you guys to pick at least a club that no-one else has.'

'I'll take archery and bookclub,' said Paul. 'I'll probably go for the archery club.'

'Art class and climbing,' answered Chloë.

'Fine,' sighed Julia. 'Music and Cooking.'

'Drama and Woodwork,' said John with a frown.

'Art and Photography,' said Mia.

'Cooking and the Athletics club,' answered Francis a bit doubtfully.

'Great, I'll inform the clubs that you'll be joining them for a try out next time they meet,' said Kerry with a smile. 'Now that that's sorted out, the five of you can go run some laps. Bear, you're going to start preparing your first lesson. It's due for the day after tomorrow.'

'Yes ma'am,' the six of them sighed.

That evening they were sitting at their usual table. They all were eating the fish fingers with mashed potatoes. Paul was wolfing down his fish.

'How's the lesson coming along?' asked Mia.

'Don't really know,' said Paul while swallowing, 'I actually haven't got an idea about how to teach. I have prepared some basic stuff such as introducing yourself, but that's about it. How are the laps?'

'A freaking pain,' growled Julia biting of a piece of fish.

'I'll just pretend not to have heard that,' said Kerry while looking at the table. 'Here are your timetables for the clubs.'

'God, I have to teach and try out the archery club on the same day?'

'So are we, have you arranged this?' asked John.

'I might,' said Kerry with a grin before walking off. 'Don't be late!'

The day after tomorrow came sooner than expected and Paul was heading towards his classroom for his first lesson of Dutch. There was already a small crowd forming. Mostly red shirts. Kerry was there as moral support. So were Mia and John, who were supposed to be in Karate with Chloë.

'Kerry, you told me I was teaching to red shirts, as in ten to fifteen children from six to nine, not other people,' he told her nervously.

'Just relax Bear, I'm here so are John and Mia. What could go wrong?'

'A lot!'

'Just go ahead with the plan, just go with the flow.'

'Hello, semi autistic remember? Not able to go with the flow.'

'Get in and teach Bear! Its not that hard.'

Paul stumbled in and placed his documents on the desk and turned on the computer. He felt the gazes. He quickly took a look of the room. Eighteen people, including Mia, Kerry and John. Ten red shirts, two grey, two navy and even a black shirt.

The computer booted up, Paul logged in and opened up his Powerpoint presentation.

'Good day. As you might know, my name is Paul Winters. I will be teaching you basic Dutch for the next two months. As a starter: Can someone tell me where this language is spoken?'

Several hands shot up. Paul pointed at the girl in the black shirt and nodded.

'The Netherlands and a part of Belgium,' she answered.

'That's good Miss...?'

'Anna Crest, sir.'

'Ok. Do you know the name of that part of Belgium?'

'Flanders, sir.'

'That's correct. Any other guesses?'

'They speak the African variant in South-Africa,' said a red shirt. 'And in a place called Surinam.'

'That's is also correct,' said Paul while clicking to show the class the various countries on some maps. 'Let us get started then shall we? The first thing that I want to teach you is to introduce yourself and to tell someone something about yourself in Dutch. I shall start.'

'Hallo, mijn naam is Paul Winters.'

Several puzzled looks.

'That's Dutch? Sounds like German,' said John.

'Well duh John, German and Dutch are like two variants of the same original language. Now let try that. What I just said was: Hello my name is Paul Winters. Now I want you to try this.'

Everyone had to try. Some were better than others.

'Not bad. Does anybody know German, and no you can't reply John?'

Four hands shot up.

'That's nice. You guys, and girl, excuse me, will have it a little easier. You know what, let's take a step back and start from the bottom. I'm going to count to ten in Dutch lets see if you can repeat it. Okay?'

All nodded.

'Eén... Twee...Drie...Vier...Vijf...Zes...Zeven...Acht...N egen...Tien.'

Again some were better than others.

'Okay let's do that again.'

After the class had finished and Bear had grabbed all of his material, he and the others parted ways to go to their clubs. Paul saw that Anna was standing in the hallway.

'Hi Paul, want me to escort you to the archery range?'

'Sure. Are you also a member of the club?'

'Well you can say that again. I'm the captain,' she answered with a chuckle. 'And don't you worry, I'll make sure no one makes fun of you. Telling people that your handler is Kerry makes people nervous.'

'I can actually see why,' he answered grinning.

After a short walk they arrived at the archery range. There were seven people standing around and chatting. George was one of them. They all fell silent the minute Anna and Paul closer.

'The Bear is joining our club? asked a guy in a navy shirt. He had brown hair and was slightly taller than Paul. 'That's it I'm out. If those stories about his marksmanship are real, he would easily kick our butts.'

'Yes Kevin, Paul is considering joining our little club,' said Anna. 'And actually I also would like to see if the stories are true.'

'I can do that shit easily with a rifle but this seems a lot harder,' said Paul to his defence.

'That are some wise words,' said George. Some chuckles from the others.

'How about a demo?' asked a girl with a grey shirt, red hair and more muscles than Paul.

'Sure.'

The seven members each grabbed their bows (compound and recurve), quiver and other gear. Paul saw some protective gear being strapped to arms, hands and wrists. Five of them placed an arrow on the bow, took aim.

'Release on three,' said Anna. 'One, two, three!'

The arrows left the bows and all ended up on a target. Anna and George were the last to fire. Two bullseyes.

'That's so awesome,' said Paul.

'We know,' answered the red haired girl. 'I am Sarah by the way, but almost everyone calls me Carrot top. Being a redhead and others are Kevin, George, Anna, Larry, Mona and Fiona.'

'Hi, nice to meet you all,' said Paul.

'Yada yada, introductions later, lets see what the Bear can do,' said Mona with a mischievous smile.'Give the man a bow and an arrow!'

'First things first, Mona,' tutted Anna jokingly. 'Paul, if you look straight ahead, through which eye do you seem to be looking?'

Paul stared into the distance. 'Right eye.'

'Ok. Writing hand?'

'Right hand.'

'Weight and height?'

'85 lbs and 63 inches last time I checked.'

'That means a draw force of 20 pounds and draw length of 55 inches give or take. Have we got a bow for that?'

'Yes we do,' said Sarah. 'Sort of.'

Paul watched in anticipation as Sarah pulled out a black box that looked as if it had been run over by a bulldozer. She opened the latches and took out an all camo recurve bow and some arrows.

'Its been a while,' she said handing it over.

Paul pulled the string and almost released it when his arm was grabbed and firmly held back.

'Release it extremely slowly,' said Anna. 'Never dry fire a bow. Ever.'

Paul nodded and released the string as slow as possible.

'Some basic rules:

- Don't ever dry fire a bow. It damages the bow and can cause you or the user to get severely injured.

- You always wear protective gear, no matter how experienced you are or think you are.

- I expect you to be on time for our weekly training sessions. Monday and Thursday after school.'

Paul nodded. 'I get it.' Fiona handed him over some protective gear that he immediately put on.

'Now lets see what you got,' Anna said while giving him an arrow.

Paul watched as Kevin demonstrated how to load the arrow and get in position. He looked at the arrow shooting straight in the centre. With twelve eyes looking at him, Paul placed himself and loaded an arrow. Gently but firmly he retracted the bowstring. Aiming for the bullseye Paul breathed in and out. Relax and visualize, he thought. He released the string. The force propelled the arrow in a straight path that almost missed the target completely.

'Ah damn, I missed. What's so shocking?' he asked when seeing the expressions on the faces.

'Paul is this absolutely the first time you've fired a bow and arrow?' asked Anna.

'Yeah, duh.'

'Then we can all agree that you're one hell of a marksman.'

'What? I barely hit the target.'

'And that's already an achievement on itself you twat,' said Fiona. 'You know that most people that fire an arrow for the first time can't even hit the big fat target for starters. And when I say most people, I also mean us.'

'My first arrow landed like ten feet in front of me, straight into the ground,' Sarah smiled.

'Dito,' said Larry and the other guys.

'So you're telling me failing is actually a good thing?'

'At this point yes, if you can't do better after three months, you're in for a heap of trouble. I don't accept laziness in my club,' joke threatened Anna. 'I guess you can keep the bow for now, as nobody else is using it.'

'That's cool, thanks.'

'So you'll be joining us next week?'

'If there's nothing coming in between I am.'

'I am afraid that might be a problem,' said Mia and Julia. 'We're wanted in the mission preparation building. We have our first mission.'

* * *

Authors Note: Yey already at chapter nine! So next up is chapter 10 which will be called: Back to the Streets, now take a guess at what going to happen ;) Please do spread this story and R&R.


	10. Back to the streets

**Authors Note: Finally Chapter 10, the Mission Chapter :) But still, reviews are much appreciated. Btw, this is seriously the last chapter for a while. At least one month, I have to study for my exams and stuff, so writing isn't doing much good. A nice thank you for every reviewer (yes you, you know who :D). So this the tenth chapter, the last one for a while, I am repeating myself and I am posting this at 1:30 am my time. Thumbs up for the NightWriter :) Enjoy! R&R.**

**Some discalimery stuff: yadayada, I don't own cherub... all right belong to Muchamore... Blah blah (you get it).**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Back to the streets**

* *CLASSIFIED* *

MISSION BRIEFING FOR PAUL ANDREW WINTERS

DO NOT REMOVE FROM ROOM 260

DO NOT COPY OR MAKE NOTES

_1. Flamesword_

_In the year 2010 a group emerged into the criminal underworld of London. Flamesword started as a gang of religious extremists who attacked the police, other gangs and several institutions. Under the leadership of John Vine and Kazim Al-Hassan, the gang gained more and more support and expanded its activities to almost every aspect of crime available. In the summer of 2011, rumours about a large -scale attack against the government started to spread amongst the Intelligence Agencies. The rumours haven't given any concrete information, but have been resurfacing and are becoming more violent. The threat has therefore been flagged as highly potential by MI5 and MI6. Since the arrival of Black Dragon (see below), the group has had several setbacks in their plans, as they are under constant threat of Black Dragon. As of now the numbers of Flamesword are estimated at 100 people, of which 25 as the core. _

_2. Operation Black Dragon_

_In 2012 six CHERUB agents were dropped in London as a part of Operation Black Dragon. OBD is a plan involving a massive amount of people of several parts of the Intelligence Department. The goal of this group was to gain information on the greatest plan of Flamesword and also try to oppose them as much as possible. Several actions by the Black Dragons have had this effect. Flamesword and BD have now reached a fragile truce in the sense of gang territory. Their mission is still to gain more concrete information on the possible attack. The members have also drafted Paul Andrew Winters into CHERUB, almost completing the Delta Project._

_3. Role of Team Delta_

_a) Team Delta will join the Black Dragons in their mission. They will provide mostly back-up assistance when gathering the crucial information. The team shall have to use their skills to help out the Dragons as good as possible. _

_b) A special role has been prepared for Paul Andrew Winters. The agent in question shall return to his true identity during the mission. Paul Winters shall (unofficially) join his team mates with the Dragons. As agent Winters has had previous experience with both groups, his role could be crucial for the success of this mission. He will also try to collect as many leads and information as possible while returning to the streets as the infamous Grizzly. The rapports by the Dragons and the reputation of this individual give reason to this action._

_THE CHERUB ETHICS COMMITTEE UNANIMOUSLY ACCEPTED THIS MISSION BRIEFING. ALL MISSION CANDIDATES SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING FACTORS:_

_(1) This mission has been classified MEDIUM-HIGH RISK. The members of Flamesword are known for using violence against non-members or others. Agents are to be cautious at all times._

_(2) Agents should wait for confirmation from either Ming or Matt before they act._

'Mad, you're bloody mad,' said Paul. 'Fighting alongside the Black Dragons? Mad I tell you.'

'We aren't that bad,' said Matt while fake pouting.

'Especially you, there's a reason why people are afraid of the Butcher.'

'Says Grizzly, the man whose name already makes people nervous,' he replied smiling.

'Well, are you accepting the mission?' asked Zara. 'You can always decline.'

'Hell yes, I can't wait to return to Pissstain ally.'

'Cadet Winters,' said Zara in a stern tone. 'Are you accepting the mission or not?'

'Yes, Chairwoman Asker, I accept the conditions of this mission and shall join my crew.'

'Then get packing, you're leaving in two hours.'

'Ming, be nice to my team or else...' said Paul before leaving the room.

'Sheesh, a little "how have you been Ming?" is too much to ask?' sighed Ming Lee.

'I'll go talk to him,' said Kerry. 'Talk to you later Ming, but I agree with Paul. Keep an eye on them will you?'

'Always Kerry, you have my word. Our word,' she said while gesturing at herself and Matt.

* * *

Kerry came in and saw Paul stuffing his clothes into his bag. The worn-out one that he came into CHERUB with. The green colour had almost faded away.

'We could give another one if you like,' she said calmly.

Paul sighed and turned around. 'Its my dad's. You know, the bags the military recruits get? I'll carry it around with me until it is too busted up to use.'

'Oh ok. Paul can I ask you something?'

He hung his headphones around his neck and closed the bag. 'Sure.'

'Why is it that Grizzly should scare people when mentioned?'

'I'll give you the short version. Grizzly is a kid who walked around gang-turf for six months. To keep yourself safe on the street, you have to do things. Things that scare people. That scare the notorious gang members.'

'And?'

'Nothing. That's it. i just wish to forget that part of my life. The one that I'm being dragged back into that is.'

Kerry looked at him with the no-nonsense look she gave Cherubs sometimes.

'Ain't gonna work. My lips are sealed. Now, if you please I'm going to eat dinner with the others.'

'Bear, you don't have to keep up the tough act. You can always talk to someone.'

'I don't talk, I act. That is the law of the street. Now if you would move out of the way.'

'Fine.'

Kerry let Paul pass and watched as he vanished from her sight.

* * *

Two hours later the team was sitting in a van that was waiting out front. Paul was wearing his brace that he had received at the medical bay. The straps tightly held the frame in place. It wasn't the most comfortable thing to wear.

'Hey Bear!' shouted a familiar voice.

Paul saw Anna walking towards the window. He lowered it.

'Mission or not, you're still going to train. I want you to be able to pull a stronger bow by the time you get back. And no, I don't take a no for an answer. If you can't you're in serious trouble. Hi, other Delta's.'

'Haha. You're so doomed,' said John.

'Not. Cool. John.'

'So what is it that you wanted to ask me?' said Ming to Kerry. They were standing next to the van. They could hear the music coming from inside the vehicle.

'Why is Grizzly feared by Flamesword?'

'You mean you don't already know?'

'No.'

'Paul stabbed four members of Flamesword.'

'What!?'

'That isn't even the scary part. He did it without causing lethal harm. The four of them survived with ease. And the ultimate detail is the following: We asked those members to tell us what happened. They replied that they were harassing some girl and that Paul simply walked over, disarmed one of them and then stabbed them. It wasn't even that what scared them, it was the look in his eyes. The look that spoke of pure carelessness and wickedness. After that he was placed on the 'do not bother list. I saw the same look the day I drugged him before he came to CHERUB.'

'Oh shit. Is this bad? I mean for the mission?'

'Nope. He will be able to defend himself and the others. Don't worry. In two maybe three weeks time tops they're back safe and sound on campus.'

And with that the Delta's drove off towards London.

* * *

The door opened and the Delta's walked in. Before they could react a voice shouted:

'Luke, Diane, Rick, get over here and say hi! Don't make me come and get you!'

Paul removed his headphones and stood next to his mates as a woman's head appeared from behind a wall. She had brown hair and a big smile.

'Hi, you must be the Delta's? I am Willow.'

'We all call her Goose,' said Matt.

'Why?' asked Julia.

'Wait exactly ten seconds,' said Ming with a faint smile.

Ten seconds slowly crept by as a lot of noise came from the kitchen. Willow or Goose appeared in the flesh and stared at the Butcher and Ming.

'You two, don't just stand there, get those bags into their rooms. Boys in the small room, girls in big room. Now, since you're all here let's have dinner shall we? It's spaghetti with tomato sauce. Looks like you haven't had food for the entire journey up here. You two call that taking care of those children? Tss.'

'Yes, Mother Goose,' replied Matt with a chuckle before grabbing the bags and heading off towards the stairs that went to the upper floor.

From some rooms on the ground floor three other people appeared. The first one was a boy with black hair and a slim build. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a green shirt. Looked not older than 16. Secondly a fifteen-year old girl appeared. She was wearing PJ's with big tiger paws as indoor shoes. Finally there was the second guy, seventeen years old and the tallest one in the room. He had blue eyes and was only wearing sweatpants. His bare chest had a six-pack.

'Guys -and girl- meet the latest Cherubs, Team Delta,' said Willow as she gestured at them.

'So this is the mission team? Nice to meet you. Rick,' said the first one.

'Yeey, they're here! Grizzly's back too. I'm Diane,' said Diane cheerfully.

'Please forgive my younger sister for her behaviour. Pleased to meet you. Luke,' said the last one.

'Wiz, Lynx, Train,' said Paul while sitting down.

'Welcome back to the urban jungle, Grizzly,' said Diane. 'Missed you.'

After that the team had introduced themselves properly, the meal was put on the tables, as twelve people was too much for the dining table - they used the living room table as well.

'Nice place you got here,' said Paul.

'Why thank you Paul,' said Ming. 'On this floor we have our rooms, the living room, kitchen and the first bathroom. Upper floor has the data center, your rooms and two small bathrooms. On the level below there is a gym and sparring room. Plus free wireless internet throughout the entire building.'

'Your rooms? Don't you mean their rooms?'

'Nope, you're sleeping two nights a week indoors. Boss' orders. Got to have a room to be able to do that.'

'That's nice. Suppose I can't stay tonight?'

'That's right! We're kicking you out the moment you finish your meal,' said Diane.

'That's irony right?' asked Francis who hadn't said a single word since they had arrived.

Silence.

Everyone bursted into laughter while trying not to choke on food or drinks.

* * *

'Here are some sandwiches and cash,' said Willow. 'Take care of yourself. We expect you back here on Sunday, four pm sharp, don't be late.'

'Thanks,' said Paul.

He grabbed the money and stuffed it in his pocket. The sandwiches went into his backpack. Paul placed his headphones on his head and took a last look at his team. The jungle was waiting. He walked over to Mia and they kissed.

'Stay safe,' she mumbled.

'Always. Ming, you can send the message, but wait fifteen minutes.'

Paul nodded at his teammates and walked out. The sky was clear for once and the sun just started rising.

'And so the lost Bear returns, but first to settle some debts.'

* * *

Paul walked in as the sound echoed through the small pub. The dark room was lit by three lamps and a couple of small windows. Shiny hardwood was everywhere. The benches, chairs, tables and bar. On the wall was the dartboard and the 'list of shame'. Grizzly's name was on it. The old man behind the bar looked from his newspaper and his eyes grew big.

'You! Why have you returned?'

'To settle an old score,' Paul replied as he took a seat. In the mirror behind the bar he saw a kid with torn up pants, hoodie that was too big and a black eye (courtesy of Ming). Paul reached for the money in his pocket and took out thirty pounds. 'I hope that covers it? And for a fresh breakfast?'

The man hesitated for a second, then took the money and walked into the kitchen. Paul heard a little shierk. A moment later a old lady walked in with a fresh plate of toast. Paul smiled as she came from behind the bar and gave him a hug.

'So you have returned Paul? We thought you left the city for ever.'

'Nah, the city called and I came, that's the way it goes.'

'James will come any minute with the eggs and bacon.'

'Thanks Nelly, I owe you guys.'

'I will have none of that talk in my house,' said Nelly. 'It is an honour to be able to help a young man like you. We should thank you for bringing back some sparks in our lives.'

'Like you, a fifty year old beauty, would ever need that.'

'Sixtyseven honey, I can't pretend to be young anymore.'

'Would you please stop trying to steal my wife from me, you rascal? Here are some eggs.'

'Thanks.'

Paul started eating the breakfast while Nelly wiped off his name. The news would only spread faster now. He finished up and grabbed his bag.

'Before you go, you have to know that our door is always open to you,' said Nelly.

'I already know that.'

Paul left.

'They get younger with every generation don't they?'

'Yes they do. Takes me back down memory lane.'

* * *

The boy across the street looked at the door being opened. Out came the Grizzly. The news was true, he had returned. He took out his phone and dialed the number.

'I am sorry to call you this early, Blessed One. The Grizzly has been spotted at O'Neills.'

'Good. Don't follow him, we'll find him later. Come back to HQ.'

* * *

Paul walked towards the park and searched for the old apple tree. After a minute or two he found it. He immediately dunked his pack in the bushes and made himself comfortable. The music in his ears sounded even better. There he was back in the city, on the streets. He was actually enjoying himself.

* * *

Sunday at noon. Two girls took a seat at an outside table. They ordered two cokes as they seemingly enjoyed the sunlight. One was dressed in a pretty old fashioned way, she even wore a cross with some holy water in it.

'When we get back, I'm going to melt this,' hissed Mia.

'I'll help,' smiled Chloë.

'Okay girls, heads up. Kazim and John are arriving now,' said Rick through their earpieces.

The Delta's saw the two men walking up in white shirts and black ties. John Vine was wearing men took their seats at the table next to them.

Chloë placed her cellphone on the table and pointed the antenna towards the leaders.

'Signal and sound are good,' said Rick. 'You may record.'

Mia and Chloë waited that the two men were done talking before playing out act two. They drank their cokes and got up. They walked past the table, when Mia fell down. (Chloë had tripped her as planned.) Immediately John assisted getting her back up. Mia felt his eyes burning into the cross and her own chest.

'Thank you sir,' she said softly. In a quick movement she placed a tracking device on his sleeve, just below the wrist fold.

'You're welcome my lamb,' he answered with a soothing voice.

The girls continued to walk away as Francis informed them the tracker was moving in the opposite direction.

Paul made his way back to the house. He deliberately made several detours and used some sneaky roads to make sure he was not followed. Eventually he reached the door. He rang the bell.

* * *

The door opened and Willow appeared. She didn't say anything but pulled him in. She took his bag and walked him up the stairs where everybody was listening to a recording.

_'This is bad Kazim. With the Grizzly back in town our time-window has become even tighter. That kid is a serious problem. You do remember what happened last time right?'_

_'You do not have to remind me John. But I have found a way to dispose of the Grizzly.'_

_'How?'_

_'I will tell you back at HQ. There are too many people here.'_

'Was that recorded today?' asked Paul.

'Yes, thanks to Mia and Chloë.'

'That's cool. So we go out tonight to take'em out?'

'That might be a good idea,' said Francis and Rick. 'We hacked into the camera network and have a live feed at the location.'

'No we are not,' said Ming and Matt. 'They just told us that they found a way of taking out Paul. That's dangerous.'

'If I go to them, we've got the element of surprise. They won't have thought about that,' said Paul. 'Besides my triggerfinger's itching.'

The leaders of the Black Dragons stared at the Grizzly for a couple of seconds. 'We said no. That's final.'

'Fine.'

That night the dinner was eaten in complete silence.

* * *

At the start of the second week the Cherubs were all sitting in the living room watching the Graham Norton Show. Norton made a snappy comment and they laughed. Suddenly phones started ringing. Ming answered.

'Yes, what's up?'

...

'Yes I get it, we're coming.'

She hung up. 'Flamesword has attacked downtown. O'Neills.'

Paul never heard her objections, he was already running down the street.

* * *

The Cherubs arrived in the van and another car. Besides the police and the paramedics there was a crowd gathering. They also saw Paul being held back by some cops. He desperately wanted to get in. Ming advanced and let him enter. Matt and Diane followed.

Paul entered the pub and saw the destruction that had been done. Broken bottles and shards of glass and mirror laid spread over the floor. The dartboard was pierced with bullet holes. In the middle of the rubble two forms were covered by bloodstained, white sheets. Paul didn't have to guess. The Flamesword that was branded into the bar mocked him. He felt the anger and sadness building up. Before words or tears came out he left the room and walked away, ignoring the crowd of regulars of the pub. Not even twenty feet away the first wave came out. Paul threw up as the first tears started streaming.

'Paul,' said Julia.

He turned around and saw his mates looking at him.

'They're dead,' he snickered. 'Gone. They helped me and now they're dead.'

'It's not your fault,' said John reassuringly.

'The hell it is!' Paul shouted. 'Don't give me that bullshit. They are dead because Flamesword wanted me out of town!'

'Paul, calm down,' said Willow.

'Flamesword is going to pay for this,' he growled. 'They fucked with the wrong person. I swear I'll make them pay.'

'I can't let you do that. We are not allowed to take matters in our own hands,' said Ming.

'Fuck matters, this is pure payback,' said Paul.

Ming saw the look in his eyes and shivered. The Grizzly had spoken.

* * *

The Delta's were gearing up as were the Black Dragons. The final stage of their mission had begun. The threat posed by Flamesword had become reality with the attack on O'Neills yesterday, but not much later the message by Kazim and John had spread on the internet. They spoke of 'A deed in the name of the Lord in order to overthrow the oppressors of the Holy Word. London will burn in the holy fire of the flaming country shall be blinded by the Light.' The intelligence agencies had analysed every conversation and rumour of Flamesword and came up with the Parliament as the most likely place to be attacked. The London Eye was second on the list. An alarm had been raised and the entire city of London had come to a grinding halt. Even the Underground had been closed off. The cherubs however still had their tracker that pointed in a complete other direction. They had informed the agencies and got permission to go ahead with a possible counterattack. The cherubs would receive the help of ten highly trained commando's.

* * *

'Delta's get in position. Grizzly, Wiz, Pooh, on the roof,' said Ming.

'Why did I get nicknamed Pooh?' asked Francis poutingly.

'Cause, you are the youngest member and you always get to the honey,' said Matt with a light chuckle.

'Enough fooling around,' hissed Ming. 'Train, Butcher, Panda and Kuma, you are the first entrance team. Polar, Black, you're with me and the others. Everybody clear?'

Affirmative answers.

'Then, let's crash this party.'

* * *

Paul looked through his scope as he watched the small courtyard behind the first part of the building where Flamesword HQ was located. The nightvision showed him several people that were running around. Suddenly a large crate was rolled out and was slowly driven to a waiting van.

'Grizzly here, I've got visual contact.'

'Stand down, Grizzly,' said Ming.

'Affirmative Rose. How's it going?'

'The rest is in position. Okay got the green light. Fire at will in three seconds. One... Two...Three.'

Paul shot two tires of the van with his silenced sniper-rifle.

'The van has been neutralized. Go.'

'Got it.'

Paul changed his live ammunition into the non lethal rubber bullets and re-aimed at the Flameswords that were running around the courtyard as they suddenly got attacked by agents from two directions. He took out four more targets with shots to the knees.

* * *

The sound of the explosions echoed in her ears. Julia followed Ming, John and the others into the action on the courtyard. The commando's easily took out several suspects while the cherubs advanced towards the crate with contained presumably the bomb.

'Polar, you're up,'she said smilingly as two commando's pressed the driver of the forklift against the concrete and dragged him off the premises. She hopped in and lowered the crate. Julia saw Goose staying behind while the others entered the main building.

'Aren't you going?'

'No. I'll cover, while Polar does his job,' Goose answered while gripping her rifle.

Jules nodded as she jumped out and helped John gently opening the crate. The bomb looked huge as the wires were numerous as well as the lights. The screen that was mounted on it was black.

'That's one hell of a bomb,' she said.

John glanced at her and smiled. 'Yes it is. Okay let's see. We've got a screen, wires and about enough explosives in order to destroy the Old City. My favourite.'

'Please don't say that,' Jules said with a smile.

'Too bad,' John replied while getting out his gear.

* * *

The Flameswords charged at full speed with knives and decorated swords, screaming : 'Death to the unworthy!' They were quickly taken out by the commando's. Suddenly a small canister appeared and bounced off the floor.

'Grenade,' yelled a commando.

The Cherubs took cover as the explosive took out the commando's. Moments later the rattling of automatic gunfire screeched through the air.

'You'll never take us alive, you filthy dogs!' screamed the man who was holding an AK-47.

Mia and Chloë took a look from behind their wall and saw the man with his back towards them. They sighed with relief as they both thanked Matt for sending them on a different path. The quickly dashed towards the man and struck him both with everything they had. He let out a sound and then collapsed. The other Cherubs joined them. Mia was surprised to see Paul.

'The commando's have retreated the wounded to the courtyard. They are providing cover,' he explained.

'Okay, less chatting, more getting the baddies,' said Chloë. 'Pooh, Wiz, got any idea where they are?'

'Two floors up, we have got John and Kazim heavily armed in the last room on the left. On the floor above you we have two dozen of armed Flames. We can see automatic-rifles. Probably some stronger things as well. If you take the main stairs you'll get ambushed, the smaller stairs are the perfect route,' said Francis.

'We shall cover you in the shade,' said Wiz. 'Nightvision on the next floor in five. You've got ten minutes.'

'Roger that,' said Ming. 'Gear up! Panda, Kuma, Butcher, we go in at first. Grizzly, Train, you cover us.'

They all nodded as they put the goggles on.

* * *

Slowly he cut the final wire and removed the screen. John sighed as he placed the screen on the floor. He wiped off the sweat that had formed on his forehead. He sat down and laughed. 'That's it, it's disarmed.'

'Thank God,' sighed Julia. 'For a moment I thought it was gonna go blow.'

'Not anymore. This screen is a tablet with wireless tech. The signal can't blow up the bomb anymore, but the blasting caps are still on there. If these get hit they might trigger the bomb, but since the area is clear I don't think we have to worry about that.'

'Nice job,' said Willow.

'Thanks.'

* * *

They waited until the Flames had stopped to reload before they swiftly and stealthy advanced armed with their weapons. Paul and Luke rested their weapons and took aim. Silenced weapons were aiming at a few heads. Rubber bullets were waiting for their release. Ming sliced the first one. In that fraction of a second a short lived Hell broke loose. Screams of agony filled the space as one by one the Flames got neutralized by a bullet or blade. Mia broke several bones and stabbed two guys in the arm. Chloë forced six guys into submission before tying them up with plastic handcuffs.

'Light is back on in ten seconds take off the night vision,' advised Wiz.

They did as told and saw each others handy work. The remaining suspects were also handcuffed.

'Now for the final part,' said Francis. 'At the end of that corridor you'll find the room with the main prize.'

'My turn to shine,' said Paul in grim tone.

Before any objections could be raised he advanced and stood before the door. He turned around and motioned the others to take cover. Paul pressed himself in the corner and quickly knocked. Roaring noise and a shower of shotgun shells and rifle rounds were the answer. The door was blown to splinters. Paul waited for the familiar click of an empty magazine before acting in a fast way. He smiled and jumped in. In a fluent way he grabbed two semi-automatic pistols and aimed them at the shocked leaders. Before they could even reach for another gun, Paul shot them both in the knee with live ammunition. The blast rang in his ears. The rest of the team walked in and stared in shock.

'Grizzly, don't,' said Mia. 'They are harmless.'

'They killed my family,' he answered while crying. He took aim at their heads. The guns were shaking.

John Vine laughed hysterically. 'Is this the infamous Grizzly? The kid who has no fear, who doesn't care. Ha, you're pathetic. The Grizzly is pathetic. He's nothing.'

'Shut up, you idiot,' Kazim hissed.

'Come on Grizzly, take the shot, show them that you're a killer...'

Paul squeezed the triggers. The rounds popped out.

The leaders stared in horror, the fear on their faces had been real. Kazim laughed in relief. They were alive.

'The Grizzly died with my family,' Paul said while the magazines dropped on the floor. 'The legend is dead.'

He turned and looked at his fellow cherubs. They all gave him positive looks.

John laughed again. 'Haha you're too late. The City shall burn! Our plan has been set in motion.'

Paul stared at Ming and the Butcher. They got it. The Underground.

Kazim cleared his throat; 'The bomb that sets of the chain reaction is already in the train. It leaves in fifteen minutes. Monument Station. I'll tell someone about the other bombs, if you can stop this one, you save the entire city.'

'How can we trust you?' asked Mia.

'I swear to God that I shall do as I just told you,' he said while his face twisted in pain.

'You traitor,' spat John.

* * *

Paul and Ming dashed out and started running towards the exit. They moved across the courtyard. The entrance to the station, was a block away.

'Polar, let's go, we've got a bomb to diffuse!' Paul yelled.

John stood up and joined the other two while he grabbed his tools. Together they sprinted towards the station. They got in after knocking out two guards and tackling a third. All three jumped over the gates and made a dash for the tracks. There the train was all set to go.

'Hey, what are you doing here?' asked a man. He was wearing a flaming sword on his T-shirt.

Ming grabbed the man and smacked him against the wall. 'Where is the bomb? Tell me or I start cutting off fingers and limbs with a blunt knife.'

'In there, second cart,' he stammered. 'Please don't hurt me. The train is rigged to drive when the countdown reaches the ten minute mark.'

Ming knocked him out as well and then cuffed him. 'Let go.'

They found the bomb. It was a three part bomb, consisting of three blocks of plastic explosives, connected by several feet of wire, standing on small platforms. The countdown had already started on the screen. Twelve minutes left.

'From here to Westminster it takes about ten minutes so we have two minutes before this thing starts,' said Paul.

Ming smashed some glass and pulled the emergency break. 'One problem solved. One to go.'

'A big one. If this thing blows it takes out the entire part of London, perhaps even a part of London Bridge. And there's the other bomb. Together they take out a lot of London.'

'You better start then,' Ming smiled nervously.

'Aye aye cap.'

* * *

John stared at the clock. Four minutes to go and he still hadn't made a single cut. He walked over to the wires and checked them again. No secondary wiring. John wiped his hands. The sweat ran from his arms. Three minutes. He made a decision and slashed the first cords. Nothing happened. Then...a bleep.

'John,' asked Paul nervously. 'The timer just jumped a minute, is that normal?'

'Not really,' he said while cutting the other wires. Another minute down. One minute left.

'John!'

'Shit,' John cursed. 'I have to disconnect the main wire that leads to the blasting caps. It hasn't got any secondary wiring. Impossible.'

'Then do it, will you.'

'It runs underneath the bomb. I can't reach it. My tools are too short.'

'Then you'll have to use this.' Ming handed him one of her swords. They were flat enough to fit underneath.

'I've only got one shot. Give some light will you.'

'You've got twenty seconds left.'

John pressed himself onto the floor and slowly slid the sword underneath the bomb. The light was bright. He touched the wire.

'Ten Nine Eight...'

John slashed it. His heart stopped. Time froze for a split second, as a cheer brought him back.

'You've done it!' exclaimed Paul.

'Thank God it's over.'

* * *

Later that night the cherubs returned to their house and sat down at the table. They all were exhausted.

'You six did a great job. Not bad for a first mission,' said Matt.

'What do you mean "not bad"? We just saved the entire city from doom and anarchy,' said Francis.

'Well...'

'Well what. Oh wait now you're going to say:'You only hacked the electric circuit from the HQ and a CCTV camera. That no biggie. Even I could do that.".

Everybody's jaw dropped as they stared at Francis. He looked puzzled at their expressions.

'What? It true you know. Hacking's really hard. Not everybody can do that.'

They bursted into laughs and didn't stop for quite some time.

'Come on, what's so funny? I don't get it.'

'He doesn't get it,' said Chloë before laughing even harder.

Willow stopped laughing and motioned everybody to do the same. 'Do you know what you just did? Before the question, and the I don't get it?'

'Said something funny suppose.'

'That was irony, Winnie,' said Mia while rolling her eyes. 'You've said something ironic.'

'So that's irony!'

'Give the man a cake,' said Diane before giving him a hug.

Suddenly a phone rang. It was Ming's. She answered it while every got silent.

'Hi Zara, yes they're sitting here with us right now... Okay just a sec.'

Ming pressed a button and placed the phone in the middle of the table.

'Go ahead Zara it's on speaker.'

'Goodnight Dragons and Delta's.'

'Night ma'am.'

'First of all I and the head of MI5 would like to congratulate all of you with the successful mission. You've all done well. Secondly: for the Dragons I have the news that you can finally return to the campus after a long time. Sadly this also means that agent Willow shall receive her white shirt as she has now reached the age-limit. For the Delta's I have some better news. The six of you have again proven your skills and capabilities and for that I wish to promote you to navy shirt agents. And finally I would like to give the Delta's a final token of my appreciation. They are allowed to take the next three days off, before returning to campus. The Dragons that wish to join, may do so. But I expect twelve agents back Friday evening at the very last. Goodnight.'

Ming ended the phone call and put the phone away. She grinned wickedly.

'This calls for a celebration,' said Matt.

'I'll get the Chinese menu,' said Diane.

'If I may interrupt,' said Paul. 'There's something I need to do first.'

'What's that?' asked Julia.

'Well it's kind of personal, but if you want you can come with me.'

'Nah, it's something you got to do for yourself.'

'I'll be back in an hour or so.'

'Just don't do anything stupid,' said Mia. 'You'll be missed.'

'I know, so will you.'

They kissed for a moment before Paul let go and left.

* * *

The gate was already closed but it didn't stop Paul. He climbed over the pointy ends and landed on some gravel path. Paul turned on his small torchlight and slowly walked towards the right row of graves. After he had found it, row 24, he turned to left and walked seventeen graves down the corridor. He shined his light on the graves. Two headstones with the names: William Trant and Eve Trant. Beloved father, brother and son. Beloved mother and daughter.

'Hi mom, hi dad. I'm sorry it took this long for me to get back and say hi, but I've been busy. You might have seen me from where you are now. I've joined CHERUB, you already know that don't you? You were both members. I just wanted to say that everything is fine and that I finally can move on I guess. I have made some new friends and I even have a girlfriend, or at least I think I have. Anyway, I have to get back to the others. I got promoted to a navy shirt and saved the city today. I miss you and I hope that you are proud of me. You're always with me. I miss you two so much. I'll be back. Please say hi to Nelly and James if you see them and that I would like to thank them for everything they've done. I really have to go now. I'll never forget you and I miss you.'

Paul placed his hand on each stone and slid across the carved letter before walking off with a sigh of relief. He returned to the gate and climbed back over. He was surprised to see his friends. They all looked at him.

'They would be proud,' said Mia.

'I know, thanks guys.'

'We are Delta and we have each others back,' said John.

'Come on, let's get back. The Dragons are waiting.'

'Yeah let's.'


	11. Con, Love and Separation

**Disclaimer:I don't own any rights to CHERUB, all rights belong to Robert Muchamore.**

**A/N: Yeey we're back! Only for a while though, I have my secondary exam attempts coming up shortly so I don't that much time to write. Hope you like the chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Con, Love and Separation**

He panted. She smiled and mocked him. Paul firmly gripped the wooden sword and jumped towards Mia. He readied himself for the attack. Mia simply evaded and smacked the sword out of his hand and forced him on the ground. She pressed her bokken into his throat.

'Give it up, Paul. You're never going to beat her today,' yelled Chloë.

The Delta's were in the dojo. While Paul and Mia were on the floor, the others were sitting on the benches.

'What's the score?' whispered Julia.

'14-0,' answered Francis. 'Mia can't be bested with the sword. Only Ming could perhaps beat her.'

Paul relaxed and sighed. 'I surrender for the last time. I've had enough. Besides I have to go to the archery club.'

Mia helped him on his feet. They kissed before Paul slowly backed off and walked towards the others, while Mia gathered the swords. Paul accepted the bottle of water that John held out and drank plenty.

'Francis, got any of those biscuits left? They are delicious.'

'Nope, sorry mate. They ate them all,' he said gesturing at his sister and Jules.

'Thanks a lot you guys.'

'No problem,' replied Jules with a vicious grin.

Paul looked at her with an angry look and left the dojo and went straight to the changing room.

* * *

'You're late,' scowled Anna. 'Any excuse?'

'Are you still angry cause I can't use another bow yet?' Paul asked while retrieving his.

'Maybe. Now get your arse in line, before I make you run laps till midnight.'

'Yes ma'am.'

Only Paul, Fiona, Carrot top and Anna were present. The others were all gone on missions. The four of them were firing arrow after arrow.

'So how was the mission?' asked Carrot top.

'Okay I guess.'

'I think it went better than okay. Navy shirt and all.' Carrot top looked at him. She was still wearing the gray shirt.

'Please not you too,' he sighed. 'I've had too much for today.'

'Good. I'll come back tomorrow,' she said while firing another arrow. Bullseye.

* * *

The sun was beating down mercilessly. Almost at high noon, there was almost no shade. Sounds of marching footsteps and a siren sounded through the air.

Paul loaded a couple of shells and waited. The others had already been defeated. Only he was left. He dashed out of his hiding spot and took out three men before seven barrels were aimed at him.

'Surrender or face humiliation,' said the voice of Anna.

Before Paul could even squeeze the trigger he was hit by dozens of paintballs.

'Delta's lose,' said Carrottop cheerfully. 'Not so invincible anymore.'

'Oh shut it,' he said before storming away.

* * *

'What's the matter with you?' said Kerry as she looked at her team that was covered in paint splashes. 'You barely were able to defend the flag for an hour. And the six of you got trashed in forty minutes.'

'And whose fault is that? I can barely take a shit without another paper assignment being shoved in my hands,' growled John. 'I haven't slept eight hours straight for days now.'

'Same goes for me,' said Jules. 'Teaching red shirts how to pick a lock with nothing more than some hair pins is exhausting.'

'O, you're all blaming campus policy now?' asked Kerry. 'You all know the rules guys.'

'Then you can stick the rules where the sun never gets to shine,' said Paul. 'I've been doing three hour nights for ten days now and that all because I have to catch up on stupid schoolwork, get my belts, train with the archery club and do shitty compound training.'

'Well what are you going to do about that agent Winters?' she asked jokingly.

'I call it quits. Yeah you heard me, I quit,' said Paul before storming out.

The others looked with shock as Paul smacked the door shut.

'I take Paul's suggestion,' said Francis calmly. 'Give us more time to do our work or Delta loses its tech genius.'

'You can't threaten us,' said Kerry skeptically.

The remaining Delta's stared at her for a couple of moments, then followed Paul's example and left Kerry standing in the changing room.

'Those bloody autists.'

* * *

'Have you seen the Delta's?' asked Kerry. 'Haven't seen them since we go back from compound training.'

She was standing at a table in the dining hall with mostly black shirts. They were also known as the Captains, as they all were captains of some club or campus team.

'I saw Paul and Francis marching down the corridor of their dorms. They were gesturing frantically and muttering something about leaving this 'hellhole'.'

'Same goes for John and Jules. Although they said something about meeting at the gate.'

'Yeah now that you mention it I think I saw Mia en Chloë with some backpacks. If I recall correctly they didn't seem to be wearing their uniforms. Are they on a mission?'

Anna took a quick look at Kerry and saw panic. 'Kerry, what happened?'

She stared at the Captains and sighed. 'I didn't take it seriously. Oh God.'

'Kerry! What is it?'

'After the match, I made a remark about their poor performance. They blamed it on pressure from school, the clubs and others. I said it were the rules. They threaten to quit. I didn't think they would go through with it.'

'What the hell are they thinking?' said Rick, captain of the climbing club. 'Are they actually thinking about just walking out?'

'Could be. We all know that the Delta's are not the most conventional types,' said Matt, captain of the cooking club.

'True that,' concurred Elise, captain of the photography club and Edward, leader of the woodwork club.'

'So, what are we waiting for? I ain't letting my most enthusiastic member leave CHERUB,' said Cain, captain of the music club.

The six of them followed Cain towards the exit.

* * *

'What are they doing?' asked Matt.

'They're doing schoolwork? While listening to music?' said Cain.

The seven were watching the Delta's who were lying in the grass. None of them were wearing the mandatory uniforms. They all had earphones in or headphones on. Laptops were used used to type documents. Books were being read, while notes were taken.

Francis was the first to look up from his book. He smiled as he made the others aware of the spectators. John and Paul took off their headphones. The others followed their example.

'Well, look at that, The Magnificent Seven have arrived,' said John.

'Team Delta, what is the meaning of this?' demanded Kerry.

'Homework I guess,' answered Mia. 'It was a nice day, so we decided to do it outdoors.'

'Now if you please, I have a couple of papers to finish,' said Paul returning to his laptop.

'Explain yourself agent Gray,' demanded Edward.

'What Mia said,' replied John.

'Not that you twats,' spat Anna. 'The six of you aren't wearing mandatory uniforms.'

'So? Neither do the agents who bail campus on friday,' said Paul from behind his screen.

'That's because they're not on campus, smartass,' said Rick.

'Fine,' said Paul. He packed his laptop and lifted it onto his shoulder. Without looking back, he walked towards the main gate.

'Paul, what are you doing?' asked Mia.

He turned around and said: 'Well, Rick seems to have a problem with me not wearing my uniform on campus, so I'm gonna do it outside of campus grounds. I only have two choices: bail campus and survive in the wild until the end of time or stay here, face punishment laps for not wearing the uniform, which in turn means that I have less time to catch up with schoolwork, which means less sleep and ... you get the picture right? I only have to choose the less bad choice. In my opinion that is the wild.'

'You can't be serious Bear,' said Anna.

'Why not? It's not as if I'm some irreplaceable agent. Oh wait. And furthermore if I keep on lacking sleep and energy, I might be late again and then you get to be mad at me, again.'

Paul turned back around and started walking towards the gate, where two guards got spooked.

'Wait!' yelled Kerry. 'If we give you a week off from everything but school, would you be able to get all your schoolwork done? That means no extracurricular activities, no compound training, no nothing except school.'

Paul stopped. 'With you, you mean the six of us right?'

'Yes, you is the entire Team Delta,' sighed Kerry.

'Get it in print for each of us and you've got yourself a deal.'

* * *

Half an hour later, Kerry came back with a contract for every member of Team Delta. All of them signed with a great smile. Paul returned the pen and cleared his throat.

'Know that we've gotten it in print, we can confess that we actually have no more work to finish. We finished our last assignments an hour ago. But fear not, the week that you have given us will be used proactively.'

'You did what!?' exclaimed Kerry and the Captains.

'You got conned by six autistic agents,' said John. 'Six agents with a lot of free time on their hands.'

'We had to do it, as nobody listened to our pleas,' said Jules.

The six of them walked away and left the Baffled Seven standing at the gate.

* * *

Paul moaned as someone barged into his room.

'Rise and shine Bear, you've had your eight hours of sleep. Time for school,' exclaimed Mia.

'Do I have to? I just conned Kerry into giving us a week off of stupid things.'

'Yes and afterwards we're going to the dojo and do some endurance training, as you still need to get your next belt in karate and you still can't even touch me with a bokken, something even Francis was able to do. Now get up or I start using a ruler.'

'Sheesh, I'll get up, just give me a minute.'

Mia smacked him on the left buttock with a ruler.

'That hurts! Alright, I'm up, I'm up.'

'See you in ten minutes, Bear,' said Mia before kissing him gently on the nose.

She smiled as she left the room. Bear noticed he wasn't wearing nothing but his underwear.

* * *

After school, Mia and Paul went directly towards the dojo. Normally Chloë was supposed to be already there as she tutored a advanced class of karate at the end of the day. The two got changed quickly and continued into the actual dojo.

There they witnessed the final moments of the lesson. Ten black belts trying to defeat on another. A sharp noise screeched in the air.

'That's it for today. The ones that which to see a demo of some armed action are welcome to stay,' she announced with a grin as she saw Paul and Mia standing at the door.

To Paul's dismay only five people left the dojo.

'Lets get started shall we,' said Chloë as she gave Paul some protective gloves and leg pads.

'Could you please get rid of them? It's not really helping.'

'Come on Bear. Let them see three fights. I'll make'em leave so they don't see you getting your ass kicked by moi.'

'Thanks.'

Mia gave him a bokken as she took out her personal sword.

'Beginning stance please,' she announced.

Paul placed his feet ten inches apart and held the bokken firmly with both hands. He faced Mia and awaited further instructions.

'Defensive stance number four, bokken in left hand. Three strikes, then you may attack at will.'

Paul shot her a pleading look, but she ignored it and waited until he finally complied. He bent his left knee, while stretching the right leg. With the bokken in his left hand, he held the blade so that his torso and leg were protected from the blows.

Without a warning the first blow landed on the wooden blade. Paul gritted his teeth as the impact placed strain on his hand.

'Two.'

Again a perfect hit, more strain. More pain.

The third strike, again came unannounced. Paul endured the impact, but dropped the sword when the pain became too much.

'Fuck that hurts,' he blurted out.

'That's because you didn't exercise your left hand, like I asked you. You use your right hand too much,' said Mia. 'But fair is fair, lets fight Righty.'

'You said it,' he smiled.

Both assumed the beginning stance and bowed towards each other. Mia was the first to move by releasing the sword with her right hand and holding it next to her body with her left hand. She smiled.

Paul grasped his sword with his right hand and charged towards Mia. He swung the sword towards her, but failed to hit her. In retaliation, she poked him hard in the chest.

'Never open up your defences,' said Chloë to her class. 'Doesn't matter if armed or unarmed.'

Paul got the message and kept the sword closer to his body and awaited her move. Mia advanced and attacked with a quick and sharp move. Paul blocked and pushed Mia back. It earned him a congratulatory nod. He took the sword with both hands and moved forwards to land a heavy strike. Mia saw it coming and prepared for the impact. She raised the sword above her head. Paul reacted by releasing the sword from his right hand and striking her using his left hand. Mia was so surprised that she fell down and starting breathing heavily.

'We're done for the today,' she managed to blurt out between gasps. She congratulated him.

Paul helped her get up and onto a bench. Chloë handed her a bottle of water with Mia gladly accepted.

'Now class is dismissed for all of you,' said Chloë with a no nonsense tone. 'Scram.'

As the last person left the dojo, Chloë dragged a reluctant Paul back to the tatami. He finally got his purple belt, although it left him with several bruises and severe muscle aches.

* * *

Later that day Mia and Paul were sitting on her bed, in her room. They just had taken a shower and were wearing bathrobes.

'Don't eat those,' said Mia when Paul went for a red M&M. 'Eat the blue ones. You can have those.'

Paul sulked as he stuck a blue one in his mouth and stared at Mia who looked at him with a smile.

'You did great today, you know that right?' she said while coming closer.

'I guess so,' he replied.

They looked each other in the eyes and kissed. Gently they started undressing. Paul slid his hand over Mia's torso. Mia did the same. At the same time they backed off with a pained look on their face. Curses flew across the room.

'I think I cracked a rib,' said Mia.

'My entire body aches. Damn that purple belt.'

They laughed and kissed again.

Without warning the door was opened and Kerry walked in.

'Mia, just another reminder... Oh, God. I'm so sorry. I'll come back later,' she rambled. As soon as she had entered, Kerry had left.

The two stared at the empty doorway and bursted into laughs.

* * *

'We need to talk,' said Chloë while she, Mia and Jules were in her room. 'About you and Paul.'

'What about me and Paul?' she asked.

'Well, are you thinking of going all the way? You know...'

'God Chlo!,' she bursted. Mia stared Mia and Jules in the eyes and sighed. 'I don't know. I think so, yes, but it too soon right?'

'Hell yes!'exclaimed John. The boys were sitting in Francis' room. 'If you do it now, you might regret it. We're fourteen for fuck sake. Legal age is sixteen, Bear. If you do it and someone finds out, you both are in deep shit.'

Paul sighed. 'It's not something that has to be done right now, but I think we both would like to grow in our relationship.'

'That can be achieved without the you know,' said Francis. 'Let it rest for now and just get to know each other a bit more before doing it.'

'Okay, you've made your point, but how is it going for you guys? And don't give me those what the fuck looks. John, you and Jules? Francis, I know of Scylla27.'

'Scylla27?' asked John.

'It's this girl on campus. We met on the internal network. And we've been in contact ever since. It been going on since we got back from London. But let us first listen to John and Jules.'

'Okay,' said Jules. 'John and I have been doing things together lately. But before you conclude anything, we haven't even kissed yet. It's complicated.'

'Come on Jules, spill the beans.'

'Fine. We've been doing some training and exercises together. Yesterday we went for a swim. It's just John is a nice guy, but he's the oldest member in the team isn't it weird?'

'Nope,' said Paul. 'Just ask her out for some romantic relax date.'

'And how do I do that,' asked John. 'We're like completely surrounded by fences.'

'Just ask him if he wants to go to the hot tubs after an intensive workout,' said Mia. 'worked for us.'

'Fine, I'll ask her,' sighed John. 'Now back to Scylla27.'

'We've been chatting for a couple of weeks now. There's definitely a connection between us. She's pretty witty and funny.'

'You haven't met her yet? Have you tracked her? Room or phone number?'

'No. I actually don't want to do that. It's just...'

'We get it Francis,' said John with a smile. 'She doesn't know either and you're happy because you think she might not see you as the guy she has been talking to, but Francis the autist.'

'Hey, if you're ready to tell her, we'll be there to back you up,' said Paul.

'Thanks you guys. Wanna go do something? I'm bored.'

'Can we go eat? I'm starving,' said Paul.

'Sure.'

* * *

Not soon after they had taken their seat, the boys got joined by the girls. They ate in an uncomfortable silence. Gazes flew across the table.

'So what have you been up to this afternoon?' said Chloë. 'We haven't seen you since like four.'

'Nothing much, just discussing guy things,' answered Paul. 'You?'

'Same. We talked about girl things,' said Mia. 'Nothing for the boys.'

'Cool,' said John.

The team continued eating in silence.

* * *

Kerry flipped through the pages and raised her eyebrows on several occasions. She replaced the document back on the desk and watched Zara and John Jones who were waiting for her answer.

'This is quite the mission. Not that they wouldn't be able to succeed, but it's about the fact that they have to be separated for it.'

'It's just how it is Kerry. This is a mission that only requires the boys' abilities. I need the girls for the other mission.'

'Alright, I'll go break the news. They might not take it that well.'

Zara nodded and Kerry vanished.

The Delta's were sitting on a grass patch. Kerry marched towards them.

'Hi guys.'

'Hi. What brings you here? It's not about you know right?' asked Mia.

'No no. It's about your second mission.'

'Awesome, it was about time. We're bored,' said Chloë.

'The fact is Chloë that the mission I am talking about is only for the boys. You girls will receive yours in a day of two.'

The six didn't react and only stared at her.

'You're splitting us up?' asked Francis. 'But we're a team. Six members, remember.'

'I know that Francis, but this is how it will be,' said Kerry. 'I need the three of you in the mission building in two hours. Use the time to prepare a pack and say goodbye. You're leaving at eleven.'

Without another word she turned around and left.


End file.
